The Light that Binds Us
by Rin Yahto
Summary: The World or Remnant was filled with many people and creatures. Some lived happy lives, while others fought for equality, and very few were just looking for a reason to live. One such person, is the Faunus Drake Vermillion. Though his life is surrounded in Shadows, will an opportunity to attend Beacon change all that? In the end, ones Destiny is their own.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Everyone, Welcome to The Light that Binds Us, the fanfic that no one's heard of, but mostly because it was just published. This story is mostly meant to clean up the mess that I started with my old one. For those who've been around since then, the Story will still follow Drake and team RWBY, but with more. Now, enough talk, let us jump into this new adventure, hand in hand with one another**

* * *

The City of Vale was a peaceful place to live, as it was a city where Faunus could interact with Humans and have little worry about being prosecuted by those who would treat them like animals. Although Faunus were able to live there peacefully, that didn't mean they were permitted to break the law. In one such case, a mysterious boy was running from a shop owner for a reason unknown to any random passerby. The boys appearence was a typical type that you'd see anyone wearing. He had solid Black hair with Blue highlights. He was wearing a short sleeved bright blue t-shirt with the design of a winged cross on the upper left side stretching to the lower middle half. On the other side, it read devotion in large black and white letters with Victorian style writing. He had on a simple pair of black jeans that looked a bit worn and faded, but still comfortable as well as Red and Black running shoes with a spiral type design on the outside. Now, the most offsetting thing about his appearance was the fact that his eyes were different colors. One was Blue, while the other was a permanent hue of Amber. It was an unnatural phenomenon, but he was born with those odd eyes. As if the odd eyes weren't bad enough, he was also picked on for being a Faunus, as portrayed by the Cat ears, and oddly enough, a fluffy tail which looked Fox like in appearance. To top off his outfit, he wore a 2 and a half ft long scarf wrapped around his neck once and blending the colors of Red and Blue.

"Geez, don't you give up?" The boy shouted back to the shop keep.

"There's no way your getting away after vandalizing my shop!" The Shopkeeper shouted.

"How is painting the inside of a book store vandalism?"

"Every part of that is vandalism!"

"Whatever!"

With that said, his attention was rediverted to escaping his persuer. The boy had no idea that the owner of the book store would be that mad at him. Nevertheless, he was looking for a way to escape the owner and end this pointless chase. Just ahead, he saw a street corner with a lamp post next to a crosswalk, and quickly developed an idea to throw off the pursuer. He quickly leaped towards lamppost, and right before he went past it, he hooked his left hand around the post. While still grasping the pole, he spun around on it before letting go and soaring towards the buildings ledge. Grasping onto it, the boy quickly pulled himself up and onto the building, breathing a sigh of relief.

"This isn't over! I will get up there!" The Shopkeeper shouted.

"Yeah yeah. Bring it on Tukson." The boy taunted.

The Book store owner now known as Tukson growled in response and ran around the side of the building to find a way up. The Runner sat down on the building ledge he'd just scaled, and breathed slowly.

"What did I do to get into this?" He asked himself, reminescing on how he'd gotten into the situation.

* * *

The Morning in Vale was a bright one, surely enough able to wake up anyone. Especially people who were sleeping outside for whatever reason. The early morning denizens of a well known cafe shop were startled upon hearing a yawn that sounded like an Ursa's roar. The roar/yawn's origin came from the rooftop of the building. After which, light footsteps eminated through the now quite air around the cafe. The foosteps stopped as people gazed upon a shadow that was now cast upon the the tables and chairs outside. The shadows origin was traced to the person standing on the buildings ledge.

"Did ya miss me?" The person said.

The Cafe owner sighed. "Drake, get down from there, you know I hate when you sleep on top of the building." She said, trying to keep a lid on her frustration.

The boy now known as Drake leapt down from his ledge and slowly plummeted to the ground. The mouths of the cafe patrons went agape as they watched Drake float to the ground. Seemingly as though planned, he landed perfectly into an empty chair and table, raising a question among the patrons, but not the owner. The owner pulled up a chair next to Drake, supposedly to ask what on Remnant he was doing.

"Honestly, why do always have to make some kind of spectacular entrance everytime you visit?" She asked, her voice sounding soft and sweet, but at the same time, mature.

"Oh come on, if I didn't, then you wouldn't recognize me Ryuko?" Drake replied.

"Well, you''re also the only Faunus that has two eye colors, visits daily, and wears a scarf in 90 degree heat."

"I have my reasons for the scarf, and besides, I thought you had a thing for the fashionable. I mean, it is your name after all."

"While my name does mean that, it doesn't mean I have to take it literal."

"Well regardless, you look amazing today."

Ryuko blushed at his comment, as she was wearing an outfit that did look appealing to the eye. She was currently wearing a dark blue short sleeved shirt with the image of a setting sun on the back, while the shirt itself hugged her form, showing off her womanly curves, which forced a blush onto Drake's face. She also had on a pair of Black jeans, as well as black slip on shoes. She had a head of beautiful brown hair, which was pulled into a low ponytail. Her skin was a bit pale, but still held some color from her time working outside. To top it off, she had the most intriguing pair of green eyes that just seemed to always draw the attention of anyone who looked at her.

"So, anything I can get you, or just the usual?" Ryuko asked, taking out a small notepad and pencil from her pockets.

"Offering a choice? I'm flattered, but I'll just have the usual." Drake replied.

"Right. A Mocha Latte with three sugars, and a croissant. I'll be back in a minute."

Drake nodded off as she walked indoors to fill his order. His attention was then diverted to the sidewalk to watch people walked by, off to wherever they were needed or wanted to go. He got an occasional smile in response or a wave from people that recognized him, but no one stopped by and sat at the table with him. While this may have saddened him a bit, he quickly snapped out of it as soon as he saw Ryuko carrying his order. She set it down on the table and pulled out a chair to have a bit of a talk with Drake.

"So, what''ve you been up to lately Drake?" Ryuko asked.

"You know, just the usual. Free-running, spraying graffiti, the usual stuff." Drake replied cheerfully.

"Okay, I can understanding the free-running, but why graffiti? It's illegal to spray anything on building's in Vale without permission from the owner."

"Hey, I get permission. Most of the time."

"And what about the other rest of the time?"

"I get caught by the owner of the building or store and have to clean it up."

"Then why would you tag it in the first place."

"I'm just expressing myself is all."

"Really? So having to scrub down what you put up in the first place is fun?"

"You know what I meant."

"Honestly, I will never understand you. So, got any plans?"

"Gonna swing by Tukson's bookstore."

"The one that just opened? That wouldn't be a smart idea."

"Oh come on, I'm not that untamed. Give me some credit."

"Fine. Well, I'll be taking my leave, as i have to get back to work."

"Okay. See you later."

The two them got up from their seats and went their own ways. Ryuko continued to tend to the cafe patrons, while Drake went off to Tukson's Book Trade. Along the way, people gave him discerning looks. A few congratulated him on be out in public without trying to disguise his Faunus features, while others gave him looks of disgust. Some even muttered 'filthy animal' or 'odd eyed freak' as they passed, but he chose to not let their words hurt him. Although he had been subjected to the verbal abuse for a while, its effect had lessened over time to the point where i didn't affect Drake at all.

 _"When will they learn that their words won't hurt me." Drake thought._

Although the comments and praise continued, he just brushed it off like they weren't even being said. Although his target was the newly opened bookstore, he was still having trouble tracking it. After nearly an hour of looking, he found it. Looking up at one of the lamppost clocks, the odd eyed Faunus noticed it was 11:30 AM. Drake smirked before entering the store, being quickly enveloped in the quiet atmosphere of the book lender's. Passing a few bookshelves as he walked, he swiftly walked up to the front desk before ringing the bell.

"Just a minute!" A professional but polite voice called out.

The doors leading to the back of the store quickly opened, revealing a set of arms holding two large stacks of books. Turning to the side, the owner of said arms was revealed to be a man who looked like he was in his lower to mid 20's. He wore a short sleeved beige shirt with black accents and a zipper. Beneath that he wore a White undershirt. His hair was cleanly cut, and he had noticeable sideburns, along with hairy, muscular arms.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, 'home to every book under the sun'. How may I-" He said before noticing Drake. "How may I help you?"

"Your pretty hospitable. Do you have any manga?" Drake asked.

"Thank you for the complement, and their by the front."

"Okay."

Drake swiftly moved over to the manga section to browse the extensive amounts of reading material. While searching, the bell that rang when opening the door rang, signaling another person had come in to look for an interesting read. Drake didn't look up from the Manga, so he didn't know what the person looked like.

"One copy of Crescendo by Becca Fitzgerald." A soft, but still audible female voice asked.

"Sure." Tukson replied happily.

The sound of something, presumably a book, being pulled out of a shelf and being placed on the front desk rang through the air. The next sound to be heard was the door bell ringing again. Drake looked up to see who had just came in and out, but all he saw was black bow. He shrugged it off and resumed his search only for it to be quickly ended as he found what he needed. Quickly grabbing the book, he examined it for any damage, only to find that the book wasn't damaged in the slightest. The Book series he was partaking in was called Fairy Tail. According to the first book in the series, it focuses around a young mage named Lucy Heartfilia, who is trying to join the apparently legendary wizards guild, Fairy Tail. Along the way, she meets a strange pink haired man named Natsu Dragneel, who is later discovered to be a member of Fairy Tail. From there, Lucy manages to get into the guild, and the adventure continues from there.

"Finally, Manga #15. At least I found a copy here." Drake muttered to himself.

Drake returned to the counter, where he found Tukson happily waiting.

"Did you find what you need?"Tukson asked politely.

"Yep." Drake replied, laying the book on the counter.

"Ah, a Fairy Tail boy, eh? Not a bad choice, though when I was younger, Bleach was the manga everyone talked about."

"Really now? That's not something I'd have expected from you, but then again, you are a book lender."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"How much do I owe you?"

Tukson thought for a moment before replying with "Its on the house this time."

Drake did a double take.

"Really? Why?" The Faunus boy inquired.

"Well, I could tell from your state of clothing that you sleep outside every night, but that's not why I decided to give the book to you."

"Then why?"

"Well, considering that your 'The Blue Fox', I figured i may as well be generous since your gonna tag my store."

"'The Blue Fox'? That's really what they''re calling me? I always thought myself as a Composer, expressing himself through art."

"Well, it wasn't me who came up with the name. Now then, you can tag the outside of my building. Don't worry about cleaning it."

"While I thank you for your generosity. I'm afraid you may not like this."

Drake pulled out a small, black, sphere shaped object. A look of concern suddenly struck Tukson's face as Drake pulled the pin on the unknown device. Droping it to the floor, Drake was about to tell Tukson the devices purpose, when it went off prematurely. For that moment in time, the world felt like it was in slow motion as Drake and Tukson watched a colored cloud disperse from where the item fell. The cloud obscured the vision for both of them, and forcing them to cough as the colored air entered their lungs. Drake quickly ran to the door and opened it in an attempt to prevent their suffocation. The store door swung open as Drake ran out of it with the colored smoke trailing him. Tukson soon followed out, allowing the smoke to clear from his store. Within minutes, the cloud had disappated nearly completely, save for a semi clear cloud still leaving the building. When it looked like most of the smoke had evaporated, Tukson walked into the store, only to find that everything was coated in a layer of blue. To say that he was mad was a great understatement. Tukson was like a stick of dynamite ready to explode.

"DRAKE!" Tukson roared in anger.

Tukson quickly bolted out of the store door, and turned left, following the direction Drake took. He stopped at the first street corner, gazing down the sidewalk. When he looked at the cafe roughly a street block away, he noticed his target and started sprinting after him like a madman. Drake was blissfully unaware of the incoming shopkeeper, continuing his conversation with Ryuko.

"You do know that he's going to be pissed once he catches you, right?" Ryuko reminded.

"Yeah. But hey, chances are that I can outrun him." Drake said, arrogantly.

"Really, because he's getting really close, really fast."

"What!?"

Drake got up from his seat to see that Ryuko was right. Drake quickly began sprinting in the opposite direction, whether out of fear or want to not get caught. So, he just ran as fast as he could.

* * *

"Oh yeah, that's why. Man, why'd I have to test out my paint bomb on him?" Drake asked himself

"That's a very good question." Tukson said.

Drake looked to his side only to see that his pursued was standing directly next to him. He was struck instantly as he rolled sideways to put some distance between him and Tukson. After rolling, he quickly got into a standing postion, but found that he was cornered at the edge of the building.

"If your done running, I'd like to talk." Tukson said, trying to keep his calm.

Tukson slowly walked forward, while Drake was panickng internally. Looking back towards the street, he looked for something soft to land on. Unfortunately, he found no such object. Stepped onto the building siding, he looked down one more time before slightly easing his right foot over the edge.

"Kid, your crazy. Don't jump, I just wanna talk, nothing more." The booklender pleaded.

His cries fell on deaf ears as Drake turned away from him and jumped towards the street. For the moment in time when he was falling, Drake felt like he was moving slowly. While he knew he'd be fine landing on the the ground, he didn't realize that he may have jumped a little too far and was about to fall on someone. He didn't have enough time to call out to the person, and when he hit, the two of them went to the ground. Tukson sighed and ran back towards the stairwell he used to get up to the roof.

Drake and the person he'd landed on both groaned in pain. Even though they had aura's, they had to use them manually, and have a mysterious person fall on you left little, if any time to activate your Aura.

"Ow." The girl beneath Drake whined.

Drake got into a push up postion to lift himself off of the girl by a bit. Looking back at the person he was currently on top of, he blushed at the sight of her pale white skin, and silver eyes. The girl was dressed in a black blouse, and a skirt with red trimmings. To top it off, beneath her was a red cloak, which looked large enough to cover her entire form. The position the two were in was very suggestive, but they were lucky that people were just passing the too by, not paying them any mind. Although now one bothered to care about whatever antics they were in, the two of them were blushing like a wildfire.

"Umm. Do you mind getting off of me?" The girl asked.

"O-oh. Y-yeah." Drake stammered.

He quickly off of the girl and stood up. Kneeling down for a moment, he took her hand and pulled her back onto her feet. Although they were no longer in the position as before, they were still blushing. Both were either too shy or too embarrassed to say something to one another.

"Sorry about, y'know, landing on you." Drake apologized, trying to ease the tension.

"It's fine. I'm not hurt or anything, so it's okay." The girl replied happily.

"That's good to hear."

"Wait. You look familiar. Do I know you?"

"I don't think we've ever formally met."

"Are you sure?"

"If we had, then wouldn't I know your name?" The Faunus questioned.

The mysterious girl thought for a moment before replying.

"Okay. Then what is your name?" The girl asked.

"It's Drake." The Faunus said.

"Nice to meet you Drake, my name is Ruby Rose."

While the two were introducing one another, Tukson had been watching from across the street, thinking of how to approach this situation. Quickly gathering his solution, he sighed before proceeding over to the two. Drake and Ruby noticed Tukson, causing Drake to get into a defensive position while Ruby was left confused.

"Stand down. I wasn't chasing you because I wanted to hurt you." Tukson tried to reason.

"You were chasing him? Drake, what did you do?" Ruby asked the Faunus boy.

"I sorta painted the inside of his shop blue." Drake confessed.

"Look, just tell me how to fix it."

"Just use a sort of gentle mist. Doesn't the shop have a sprinkler system?"

"Yes."

"Well, just turn it on low, and the paint will wash away."

"Okay. Thanks for the help, and enjoy your book."

Tuksone left while the two waved him off as he walked away. Drake turned to face Ruby as she did the same to him. With the worry of being pursued no longer bothering him, he could now divert his attention to the girl before him. As he looked into her silver eyes, and she looked back into his Amber and Green ones, a connection had sparked between the two. As the Connection sparked, so did a blush on both of their faces. The silence between them was offsetting, and was finally broken by Drake.

"So, what now?" Drake asked.

"I guess we could walk around Vale and try to get to know each other. It's only 3 o clock, and I don't have to be home til around 8." Ruby said.

"S-sure. Where do you want to go first?"

"Hmm, how about you choose."

"Okay. We can visit this cafe I stop by everyday."

"Sounds good."

Drake lead the way while Ruby followed close behind him. Thanks to Tukson chasing him, Drake estimated that they were at least three or four blocks away. He sighed, knowing that it'd be a bit of a distance to get to the cafe, but felt it was worth the walk. So, in a haste to not waste time, he quickly started walking towards their destination, with Ruby following quickly behind. Drake admired how the Black and Red of her outfit brought out the beauty of her pale, flawless skin. The thoughts of how beautiful Ruby was forced a deep shade of Scarlet onto Drake's face.

"Drake? You okay? Your blushing." Ruby said.

Drake snapped out of his thoughts and addressed the girl.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." The Faunus said.

"About what?" The cheerful red girl asked.

"N-nothing. Uh, weapons?" Drake lied.

"You like weapons too? I never though that- well now I'm really glad to have met you."

Draked sighed. **"Looks like a dodged a bullet there." He thought.**

"What kind of weapon do you use? If you use one that is?" Ruby asked.

"Oh. Uh, I use twin chain scythes." Drake said.

"That's nice. What are they called?"

"I call them the Claws of Wind."

"That's neat. I got my sweetheart, Crescent Rose."

From beneath Ruby's cloak, she pulled forth a red block-like object that quickly began changing shape. Within seconds, it had unfurled into a 5 foot, 2 inch long Scythe. In the opposite side from the cutting edge were two jagged spikes which appeared to hold no apparent use from just a glance.

"Woah. What kind of weapon is that?" Drake asked.

"A High-Calibur Sniper Scyther." Ruby answered.

"Awesome. Taking a shot in the dark here, but do you attend Signal Academy?"

"Yes. How'd you know?" Ruby inquired while putting her weapon away.

"Lucky Guess. I've heard quite a bit about that school. Trains kids to become Hunters and Huntresses. An honest profession in my opinion."

"Do you take classes there?"

"Nope, otherwise you might see me there and not out here. Doing my usual stuff you hear about."

"True, but I think you'd be a great Hunter, if you put your mind to it."

"Yeah."

Without even noticing, Drake had lead them to the cafe. Taking a moment to notice his surroundings, he breathed a sigh of frustration, realizing that he had done the whole, subconsciously moving thing again. Choosing to ignore that at the moment, he lead Ruby to an empty table, pulled the seat out for her, and took the seat across from her. They waited there for a few moments before Ryuko approached them.

"Well well well. I wasn't expecting you back again today. So, get caught again?" Ryuko asked.

"Yeah, but I got out of having to clean this time. Not to mention, I met this nice girl you see before me."

Ruby gave a meek wave before Ryuko looked back at Drake.

"So, the 'Composer' finally made a friend, huh? Well I say some congratulations are in order." The Cafe owner chirped happily.

"Please don't." Drake whined.

"C'mon, it'll be fun."

"Yeah. It might be a little fun, Drake." Ruby said.

"Sure." Drake said, dishearteningly.

"Okay. I'll be in a minute while you two get better 'acquainted'" Ryuko said as a smirk quickly spread on her face.

Staying true to what she said, she did indeed leave into the store to fetch some stuff, leaving an idle silence between Ruby and Drake. Whether it was out of pure embarrassment or unsurity, Drake remained silent. The silence he felt made Ruby feel that something was wrong.

 _"Why isn't he saying anything? Did I already do something wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have shown him Crescent Rose." Ruby thought._

"If you want me to, I'll leave you alone." Ruby said as she began to get out of her seat.

"Wait! Don't go." Drake responded, nearly jumping out of his seat at the girl.

"Why not? You won't say anything, and you look like you want me to leave you alone."

"It's not that Ruby. It's just... I've never had any friends. Ever."

"What?" Ruby said, shocked.

"No one wanted to be friends with me when I was little. Everytime someone tried, they took one look at my eyes and ran away."

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Can't you tell? Their different."

Drake made emphasise on this by looking Ruby right in her own, but not with a look of anger. Instead, it was one of sadness. That look alone made Ruby feel a little sad for the Faunus.

"All because my eyes are different, I never made any friends. And when I tried to befriend someone they either walked away or called me a freak before forcing me to the ground and starting to hurt me." Drake said, tears slowly falling down his cheeks.

"I. I don't know what to say." Ruby spoke.

"Don't say anything. You don't wanna be friends with me, I get it. I'll just leave you be."

With that, Drake started to slowly walk away. Ruby remained motionless as she tried to process Drake's actions. Standing like a statue, she stood there, just watching as Drake walked further and further away before he rounded a corner and left her sight. Only when he was no longer visible did Ruby snap back into reality and start moving after him. She quickly rushed to the corner he rounded only to find that he had disappeared completely.

"Drake! Drake! Where are you?" Ruby called out.

No response rang out from as far as Ruby could hear, so she assumed he couldn't hear her. She started to run down the sidewalk up until it ended at another crosswalk. She looked down all the possible route's Drake could've taken, only to find that she couldn't see the red and blue scarfed friend. Ruby felt that she wouldn't be able to find her friend, but she wouldn't give up. Looking up at a street clock, it read 5:43, so that gave her at least 2 hours to find her friend. So, she did, going from shop to shop, block to block, even alley to alley.

 _"I have to find Drake. I don't know if he'll want to be my friend, but I will at least try to say I'm sorry." Ruby thought to herself._

* * *

The hour and a half had passed and her search bore no results. Every shop keeper she visited had either said that a black and blue haired Faunus, or that they had seen him pass by, but not come in. She breathed a frustrated sigh, upset by the fact that she couldn't find Drake. Looking up at a clock, it now read 7:13, meaning she had to be home in relatively 45 minutes. She turned hwe attention to the last shop, bearing the name Dust til Dawn. Grasping the door handle, she pulled back and quietly walked inside. Ruby walked up to the store owner working behind the counter.

"Hello young lady, how may I help you this evening?" The elderly shopkeeper greeted.

"Have you seen boy about 5'8, with two eye colors, and wearing a red and blue scarf?" Ruby asked, the desperation showing in her tone.

"Actually, yes. He should be over in the back section."

Ruby's eyes lit up, going from gloomy to immediately joyful. Walking along the counter, she stopped at the second aisle to the right and saw the person she'd been seeking for half the day. He had his back turned to her and was wearing a blue headset, which had a black spiraling star emblem on each of the earmuffs. He apparently had something in his hands, but Ruby wasn't able to tell what it was from her angle. She quickly walked up to him til he was just within arms reach. Slightly hesitating, Ruby outstretched her hand til it was mere inches from Drake's shoulder, when she suddenly stopped.

 _"Maybe he ran away from me for a reason. What if he just wanted to be alone?" Ruby thought to herself._

It was then that she started hearing the lyrics from the song Drake was listening to. The song had a piano beat to it in the back while a female sang a song that sounded heartfelt.

 _ **One Life**_

 _ **Is not a long time**_

Ruby recognized the song as Wings, but didnt understand why Drake was listening to it. The song was usually meant to comfort someone who had lost someone important to them.

 _ **When your waiting**_

 _ **For a Small Sign**_

But what was the sign that Drake was waiting for.

 _ **Patience**_

 _ **Is hard to find.**_

 _ **Shadows**_

 _ **Seem to fill your life**_

It was with that last set of lyrics that she finally understood why Drake ran from her earlier. His life had been surrounded in Shadows for who knew how long. Ruby understood that he ran because he was afraid that she didn't like him, just as she was afraid Drake didn't like her. Casting away all of her hesiatation, Ruby place hwe hand on Drake's shoulder, but it didn't spawn a surprised reaction from the boy.

"Why did you come after me Ruby?"Drake said, not even turning to see whether it was Ruby or not.

"Drake, why did you run earlier?" Ruby questioned back.

"I ran because I was afraid that you'd reject me."

"Because of your eyes? I'd never do that. I think having different eye colors is pretty cool."

"Wait, really?" Drake said, his tone taking a sudden 360.

"Yeah. Your eyes are just so cool."

Drake smiled from Ruby's compliments, taking in the fact that someone was accepting him for who he was, and not how he looked. His eyes lit up with joy as he looked at Ruby. She wore a smile that easily melted Drake's heart. Without word or warning, Drake pulled Ruby into a close hug, surprising the girl. While still surprised, she accepted his advances and returned the embrace.

"Thank you Ruby. Thank you." The Faunus said.

"Your welcome. I'm glad I was able to help you however I did." The Young Huntress-in-training said.

The two seperated and looked into one another's eyes. Their gazes locked onto one another. It was as though they could tell what the other was thinking just by looking into their eyes.

 _"Ruby Rose. The girl who brought me out of the darkness that engulfed my life. I can never thank her enough." Drake thought._

 _"Drake Vermillion. A boy with a shrouded past and a dark outlook on life. I'm gonna do whatever I can to help him out." Ruby thought._

"Oh, while I was waiting for you, I found this weapons magazine I thought you might be interested in." Drake said, pulling said magazine from his back pocket.

"Really?!" Ruby said while snatching the magazine from his hands. "This is the newest issue. I can't wait to read it!"

"Then why don't you?"

Before Ruby could respond, he pulled the hood of the cloak over her head. She gave a playful glare at him before pulling her own headset out of her back pocket. She placed them over her ears before turning the song **This Will Be the Day** on. Drake shrugged off Ruby's sudden concentration on the magazine by grabbing a magazine off the spinning rack. Both of them were turned away from the Windows, so they didn't notice the group of people headed towards the shop.

 **Did you guys all me? If so, then I'm honored. If not, then I'm sad. Anyways, welcome the the Light that Binds Us. This story is meant to be a revised version of my old one. Regardless, I appreciate you all, and look forward to starting this adventure with all of you. This is Noctis Rose, signing out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Vermillion Rose

**Here's the new chapter. Enjoy**

* * *

 _ **Have you heard of the ancient Remnant War?**_

 _Yeah. Your favorite story._

 ** _So, you know of the first Hunters? They're the ones who started the war._**

 _Never heard of them._

 ** _You can drop the facáde_**

 _It was never said that the first Hunters ever existed._

 _I_ _ **f they never existed, then who could've defended Mankind against the creatures of Grimm? Apparitions of Darkness intent on returning us, beings of light to the void.**_

 _Mankind defended itself with the discovery of Dust, which was affectionately named nature's wrath._

 ** _Even with that, all Lights will eventually flicker and die_**

 _We will still prepare our guardians to defend against the Darkness._

 ** _Remember where the War started? On that very same land shall Darkness prevail and Light expire. The future; It is already written._**

 _But unlike Darkness, there's more to light than meets the eye. You might be surprised._

 ** _Oh I hope so._**

* * *

The night air was crisp, filled with the quietness that came about. The natural sounds of the night were only drowned out in the vicinity of the market district of Vale by rapidly moving footsteps. The footsteps could be traced back to a small group of six people, five of which were clad in black suits and red sunglasses, and the sixth one appearing in a vastly different clothing color. He had slanted, dark-green eyes that shone in the light of the street lamps and bright, long, orange hair with long bangs covering his right eye. His apparel consisted of a red-collared white suit and long black pants. His accessories consisted of a bowler hat with a red band and feather, a small grey scarf, and black gloves with rounded sleeves. For some reason, he was also wearing eye liner and smoking a cigar.

Regardless of how he looked, the people on the sidewalk backed away in fear of the man and his group walked towards the Dust til Dawn shop. Whether it was for a business transaction or other motives, the bystanders understood that the man and group meant business with the owner of the shop. The mysterious group entered the shop without a word, leaving people to wonder what may occur within the innards of the shop.

The group looked around the dust shop, noticing large tubes on the wall holding the stuff as well as shelves and the front counter holding vials and booklets containing info on the material. The leader of the group walked up to the front counter and flicked lightly on his cigar, leaving ash on the counter. The man looked to the shopkeeper and without ordering it, one of his henchmen began to raise guns towards the owner.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" He said in a calm, business like tone.

"P-please! Just take my lien and leave." The Owner panicked, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Sh sh sh, calm down, we're not here for your money." The leader said before looking to address his followers and saying in a much more exasperated tone, "Grab the Dust."

He looked to his men and ordered them to grab the dust. One of them placed a large black container on the counter and removed a cylinder from it. He and several others did the same before walking over to the tubes on the wall and hooking them into the despensors. The dust began to empty into the smaller cylinders at a rapid speed. Back at the counter, another black container was set down and opened, this time containing slots for gems of sorts.

"Crystals. Burn. Uncut." A henchman ordered.

The Shop Owner did as the man asked and reached under the counter to grab the crystals. The fifth Henchman was about to begin harvesting the dust from the tubes on the right side of the store when he heard muffled music coming from one of the isles. He looked down the isle and spotted a mysterious person with a red hood listening to music. Feeling that they might become a threat, he dropped the dust cylinder and pulled out a hidden long sword, raising it towards the person.

"Alright kid, put your hands where I can see them." He ordered. "Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something?"

The person had apparently not heard him, so he walked up to them and turned them around. After doing so he noticed another person was with the girl who'd payed him no mind. He too wore headphones, so it was quite likely that he hadn't heard the followers threats.

"Hey buddy! Hands in the air, now!" The henchman ordered.

The mysterious Faunus looked up from his magazine and looked at the man holding him at sword point. He removed his headphones and just stared at his apparent mugger.

"Yeah?" He asked, mildly annoyed.

"I said put your hands in the air, now!"

The boy sighed before saying, "Do you even know who I am?"

"Why would I know you?"

"Never mind, but anyways, are you trying to mug us?"

"Yes! Is that not obvious?" The Black suited man said, clearly annoyed.

"Okay."

Without word or warning, the boy grabbed his muggers sword arm and twisted it around til he dropped the weapon. Afterwards, he released the man's arm and kicked him back to the front of the store. The girl next to him pulled down her headphones and admired the boys work.

"Nice Job Drake." The red cloaked teen complimented.

"Thanks Ruby, but this fight is only beginning." The Faunus known as Drake pointed out.

Another of the henchman ran to them and held a gun up to Ruby.

"Freeze!" He ordered.

"After you Ruby." Drake said.

Ruby nodded, instantly understanding what Drake meant. She ran up to the gunman and tackled him. She continued the tackle til they were at the window, at which point she used him to break the glass and leap outside and into the streets of Vale. The leader of the gang and the rest of his able bodied members crowded around the window to look for Ruby. They saw her out in the middle of the street, but she was now holding a red block, which was rapidly transforming into a scythe.

"Your all done for now." Drake said, alerting the rest of the group to his presence.

"What are you all waiting for? Get them!" The leader ordered.

His henchmen followed their orders obediently and engaged in combat with the two teens. The four remaining henchmen split into two groups with three of them going to deal with Ruby and one as well as the leader to deal with Drake. Ruby had little to worry about from the two that confronted her thanks to her training at Signal. As for Drake, little could be said due to Ruby having no knowledge of whether he's had combat experience. All she could do was assume that he could hold his own in a fight.

"You gonna be okay Drake?" Ruby called out.

"Yeah. You just worry about your end!" Drake yelled in response.

The red cloaked girl took his advice to heart and realigned her focus to the battle at hand. The sword wielding henchman tried to attack by rushing Ruby down in hopes of catching her off guard. Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his side. With her scythe still planted in the ground, Ruby used it as leverage leap over his sword swing and counterattack in one fluid motion. With the still in hand, she spun around on Weapons shaft and kick her sword wielding assailant into incapacitation. The force from her own attack was enough to launch her forward, as well as dislodge her scythe. She landed with ease before holding the scythe with both hands and clicking the trigger. The shot recoil forced Ruby to spin, ending with her slamming the safe edge into a henchman.

Raising her scythe, she noticed the henchman with a gun and pulled her sniper-scythe's lever, releasing the spent bullet and loading another into the chamber. The henchman opened fire, but unfortunately for him Ruby was able to dodge around his shots by using her gun's shot recoil to dash around the street at high speeds. Her final shot launched her straight towards him, which in turn launched him up into the air. Ruby slammed her scythe's tip into the ground, lessening her momentum, and using it as the balance point to spin around and finish off the henchman with one scythe strike.

She landed on the ground without a scratch and breathed a sigh of relief. She gazed through the broken window of the shop and saw that Drake was still dealing with the Leader and his last Henchman. Ruby looked at his weapons, which appeared rather simplistic. In his hands, Drake held two Black metallic kamas, linked with a chain between the two. Extending from the top end of the weapon was a foot long stainless metal blade with a blue engraved scatch mark, giving the illusion of electricity. All in all, it appeared to be a simple chain scythe.

"Well, I have to say, you two have definitely turned this evening into something else. But, this is unfortunately where we must part." The Leader said.

"Yeah yeah. You can say what you want, but I'm not letting you walk out of here with your hands in tact." Drake said.

The White Coated man was about to retort to Drake's blatant claim, but his last able bodied follower jumped the gun and rushed the Faunus boy when he was supposedly distracted. Unfortunately for him, his rash actions were only met with the sound of metal clashing with metal. He was surely to have had a scared look beneath his red sunglasses as Drake looked fiercely at him with his own heterochromatic eyes. Using his free hand, Drake pushed the henchman away and hooked the back of the man's neck with the safe edge of his weapons. He utilized his new leverage over his assailant and slammed the man's head against one of the shelved containing dust, causing several of the vials to fall and some to shatter on the ground. The Man was knocked out, and with that he looked back at the leader. Drake failed to notice as mixtures of Red and Yellow dust pooled at his feet.

"Well, looks like they were money well spent." He said sarcastically.

"Looks like it. Now then, how is this gonna go down?" Drake asked.

"Well, we have two options. You and Red walk away and act like none of this happened. Or, I can personally deal with the two of you myself."

Rather than answering, the odd eyed boy ran past the man and leapt out the broken store window. He looked through the window at the Faunus and Red Cloaked girl with annoyance. He walked over to the door and walk out of the store door, ignoring the fact that the Store Clerk had long since pulled out his phone and called for help. Walking out to the middle of the street, the gang leader dropped his cigar into the street and snuffed it out with his cane.

"I believe that it is time to put an end to this little evening." The Green Eyed man said.

He raised his Cain up, pointing the end of it towards the two before the bottom popped open and revealed some type of gun barrel and an aiming sight. The man clicked a trigger hidden on his Cane, firing off a fast moving flare type round towards the two teens. Ruby pointed her gun scythe toward the ground and fired off a round to launch herself into the air to avoid the shot, while Drake threw one of his scythe's towards a lampost, which caught it, and allowed him to quickly pull himself out of the shots firing direction. As Ruby landed, she looked to Drake to make sure he was okay, then looked around to see where the leader escaped to. She found him scaling the ladder of a nearby building. Drake ran to the building side and flung his scythe's upward, making sure they cling to the roof side before climbing the chains to the top. Ruby looked over at the shop owner, making sure he wasn't hurt.

"It okay if I go after him?" Ruby asked the owner.

The Shop Clerk nodded off to her, which Ruby took as permission to rejoin the chase with Drake and The Gang Leader. The Young Reaper ran over to the building they had scaled and used her gun-scythe to launch herself onto the building. Upon landing, she watched as the leader began to board an escape vehicle. After he had gotten on, it ascended into the air. The White Coated man turned back to face the two teens and held out a Red Dust Crystal he'd obtained from the store.

"End of the line you Two!" He yelled out to them.

The White Coated man threw the crystal at them, drawing their attention away from himself. He raised his cane and pulled the trigger, firing a shot at the Crystal. Ruby and Drake failed to notice in time and watches as the shot hit the Crystal spawning a large explosion fight in front of them. The (former) leader laughed manically, believing the thought that he'd disposed of the duo plaguing him, only to see that his attempt failed, forcing a growl of annoyance out of him.

Rather than seeing two corpses, instead he saw a giant purple, mysterious circle which appeared magic in nature, and a new person joining the fight. The person in question was clad in a white blouse black button up combo, black tights, black high heels, a set of glasses, and a Purple and Black cape with a Crown sigil on the Black side. She had platinum blonde hair held in a tight bun with a few strands left free, bright green eyes, and pale skin. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, and swung a riding crop across the barrier, forcing it to break into smaller projectiles, which flew towards the bulkhead and exploded on impact. Although the vehicle remained skybound, it was shaken up. The leader started to lose balance, trying his best to stay on his feet. Once he found his footing, he rushed to the bulkheads cockpit and alerted the pilot of the current status.

"We got a huntress!" He called out over the alarms blaring.

The pilot sprung from their seat and headed towards the back of the aircraft. While they left the controls, the leader took hold of them and started to stabilize the bulkhead. The huntress performed another strange motion with her riding crop, and shot forth a large purple ball from the tip of her Riding Crop. The ball traveled into the air above the aircraft and started to form dark storm clouds. The clouds swirled around above the bulkhead, seemingly harmless until icicles start to rain forth onto the vehicle and street below. Many of them struck the vehicle and stuck in the outer hull, one going through the glass of the cockpit and nearly impaling the current pilot were it not for him moving to the side at the last second.

The previous pilot walked into the cabin, revealing theirself to the Huntress, Drake, and Ruby, save for their facial features. The person was female, wearing a Red dress with Black trimmings going down to mid thigh, the dress having strange yellow symbols along the sleeves and a green flower like emblem on the left hip. She had on black, glass high heels and a yellow anklet. The only facial detail they could see was the yellow eyes that seemed to pierce the darkness shrouding her appearance. Whether it was her showing up, those fiery yellow eyes, or as far as they could read who she was, she set Drake off. His expression became a snarl and his rage and bloodlust became more evident.

The Huntress and Ruby could feel the bloody rage his aura radiated, and it was quite likely the mysterious woman could as well. Drake flung his scythes towards the mysterious woman, but missed her entirely. Rather, the metallic weapons clung to the floor of Bulkhead, but Drake still held on to his weapons through the chains. The faunus boy started to reel himself towards the aircraft in an attempt to board it. The Gang Leader noticed his attempt to climb on and moved the controls to get the aircraft away from the building and shake Drake off. All that was accomplished was dragging Drake off the building, but the boy still hung on.

The Mysterious Woman in the back cabin had decided to stop being a bystander and decided to address the huntress threat before her. A spark flashed in her hand and she waved said hand around before shooting a burning blast at the huntress. The huntress quickly raised a barrier, blocking the fire shot, which splattered into a molten liquid on the ground behind her. The Lady in the Red Dress raised her hand that shot the blast, forcing the molten liquid behind the huntress to re-ignite. She noticed the new attack in time and handsprung backwards to avoid the fiery column that was beneath her. The column shattered the ground it was conjured upon, sending bits of concrete and other stone types into the air.

"Drake, be careful!" Ruby warned.

Her warnings fell upon deaf ears as he continued to climb the chains of his weapon. Their Huntress Savior used her ability to suspend the roof fragments in the air before forcing them to congregate into an enormous makeshift spear. She launched the giant weapon towards the Bulkhead, only for it to be blasted apart by the mysterious woman shooting three fire blasts in rapid succession. The Huntress was quick on her wits and reformed the spear while the pieces previously used were still in close proximity. The spear flew through the air towards the aircraft, and it seemed quite likely that it would take it down, but that was not so. The Pilot altered the aircraft's aerial position and reduced the damage taken while taking the giant weapon apart as it shattered along the bulkhead wing. Once again the Huntress was a quick thinker and changed the former spear into three more makeshift weapons, which followed a more erratic movement pattern. The Woman in red watched as the three weapons swirled around the ship before her attention was diverted to a loud grunt. She looked to the floor and saw Drake still trying to board the Bulkhead. He looked up and started to make out her appearance through the darkness surrounding her.

"You!" He screamed out at her.

The Woman quietly gasped before charging up for her next attack. Three yellow rings swirled around her body with strange symbols bearing a striking resemblance to what was on her clothing within the rings. The rings shattered, releasing a huge pulse of fire from her, reducing the stone fragments into hot ash and sending Drake flying from the aircraft towards the ground. Ruby gasped as she watched the boy fall from the Bulkhead. She looked to the Amber eyed woman and shifted her Scythe to its Rifle form. The Reapette opened fire on the person, who blocked the shots with her hand and possibly some assiztance from her ability. The Woman in Red waved her hands again, this time forming several smaller energy circles beneath Ruby and the Huntress. Ruby leapt/fell forward while the Huntress flipped forward to avoid the fiery columns that erupted from their previous positions.

The open hatch of the Bulkhead finally closed and the vehicle took off, flying away from the Huntress, Ruby, and Drake. The Huntress grunted in frustration in failing at capturing the people in the Bulkhead, while Ruby looked down in sadness.

"I hope Drake is okay." Ruby murmured to herself.

Her moping was interrupted by the sounds of strained groaning by the building ledge closest to the street. She looked upward from her sadness and watched a person's hand cling to the side of the building, attempting to scale the building. More of the person began to show up, first being a pair of black cat ears and black hair with blue highlights, and only when the person's heterochromatic eyes showed up did Ruby realize who it was. She ran towards the person and pulled Drake onto the roof and into a hug all in one fell swoop.

"Your okay!" Ruby said, tightening her hold on the Faunus boy.

"I'm glad you were thinking about me Ruby, but could you ease up a little?" He said in response.

Ruby backed off and said in a machine gun fashion, "S-sorry. It's just that we became friends today, and I got really worried when you fell so when I saw you I kinda overreacted and I am so so soooooo sorry."

"It's fine. As you you can see, I'm okay."

Drake held his arms outward to try and show he was okay, but that wasn't entirely true. There were a few singed parts on his clothing and several burn marks on his arms, neck and cheeks. Oddly enough, his scarf had gone completely unharmed, as though it were protected. Though, there was a small fire still going on his right pant leg.

"Uh, yeah. Your pants are still a little on fire." Ruby pointed out.

Drake looked down and saw that she was totally right. He put the fire out and gave her an awkward smile. Ruby laughed awkwardly as well, and quickly diverted her attention to the mysterious woman who saved them.

"Your a Huntress..." Ruby pointed out, then asked with pure excitement "Can I have your autograph?"

"Um, Ruby, I don't think she's here to give out autographs." Drake said.

"Your friend is correct. Now, you two are to come with me at once." The Huntress ordered.

"But why-" Ruby attempted to ask.

"Do not argue. Now, I suggest that you listen and follow me."

"Alright, alright. We'll come quietly." Drake said in surrender.

Ruby tried to argue back, but couldn't find the words. With sadness, she went along in surrenderence. Neither Ruby nor Drake knew where the Huntress was taking them, but as far as they knew, they were in trouble.

* * *

Later on in that same night, they were dragged into a mysterious building, but that was not what worried the two teens. What honestly worried them was the fact that they were being held captive by a mysterious woman, with a riding crop, and that it was nearing midnight. Ruby and Drake had been placed in seperate rooms keeping one another apart. Ruby was in a dark room, lit by only a single ceiling lamp. She was being confronted by the woman who had saved them, and was quite sure she was in absolute trouble, though her intentions from earlier were good.

"I hope you realize your actions shall not be taken lightly young lady." The Huntress said, following it up with, "You put yourself, that young man, and others in danger."

"But they started it!" Ruby said.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home. With a pat on the back." The Huntress said, her statement causing Ruby to smile, then continued with "and a slap on the wrist."

She swung her riding crop down upon the table, making Ruby recoil to avoid being hit by it. The Huntress sighed, bringing Ruby to believe that she had more to say.

"But. There is someone here to meet you, and he will be in here once he's done with your friend." The Huntress informed.

"Okay. What's your name?" The Red Cloaked girl inquired.

"I find that hardly necessary at the moment, but if you must know, my name is Glynda Goodwitch."

The room Drake was thrown into was more or less the same as Ruby's, the only difference being that he was restrained. His hands were bound in handcuffs behind the chair he was in. He tried with all his might to snap the chain, but he bore no such strength. The sound of opening door diverted his attention away from the handcuffs that bound him. A mysterious person whom he didn't know walked in holding a a Cane with some sort of handguard and a coffee mug with the Kingdom's symbol upon it.

He appeared to be a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. His complexion appeared to be lighter than most others, and was complemented by sharp facial features. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf bearing a small, purple, cross-shaped emblem on it. His outfit mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over top a buttoned vest, with a green undershirt. He also wears black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants.

Interestingly enough, the man had black eyebrows, insinuating to the fact that he may have had black hair when he was younger.

The Man in question simply looked at Drake, and Drake peered back. Within the Faunus boys eyes, he descerned much, if not, nearly everything about the boy. He saw Excitement, Sadness, Hope, and Darkness. Silence was set between the too, only the humming of the ceiling light emitting sound.

"What is your name?" The Man asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Drake asked in retortion, his tone taking an aggressive turn.

"I believe it would be in the better of both our interests if there were no hostility between us."

"Okay. Fair point. Last thing I need is an enemy."

"Very Good. Now, your name?"

"Drake. And following social customs, now that you know me, I would ask that you tell me your name."

The Man took a seat across from Drake, but their attention was still on the matter at hand. Once more, their gazes locked onto one another. The unknown man before Drake set his coffee mug down on the table, momentarily breaking the silence. The sound that rang around the room was the sound of chains clanging against wood now rung through the room as Drake tries to break from his restraints.

"My name is Ozpin." The Man identified himself as.

"Alright then. My next question is-" Drake started to say.

"Why are you in handcuffs?"

"Uh, yeah." The teen said, a surprised expression molding onto his face.

"Well, my associate, whom you've met from before, felt there was a need to restrain you, as she was unsure of what you were capable of."

"I suppose that's a valid reason, but it would've been more reasonable to at least trust me enough to be unrestrained."

"While that may be true, Glynda has always been a cautious woman."

Ozpin rose from his seat, slightly surprising Drake, but was up for a reason. He rounded the table between the two of them and stopped behind Drake, who intensified his struggle to get free. Ozpin placed a hand on the boys restraints, forcing him to try and break free with all the strength he held. A click sounded and the handcuffs fell from his wrists, but the Teenage Faunus hadn't noticed, so as soon he felt them fall, he leaped from his seat. Unfortunately, he had slammed his stomach into the table side with a large amount of force, enough to make him collapse, making him clutch his abdomen in pain, and close his eyes in pure pain.

"See what jumping the gun leads you to?" The Green clad man told Drake.

"Alright. I'm listening now. " Drake said, pain laced in his words as he spoke.

"Now then. I saw what you did at the dust shop. Now tell me, where did you learn to pull off such maneuvers?"

Drake was taken aback by the question, which distracted him from his abdominal pain for the moment. Judging by his facial expression, Ozpin could tell that his combat skills was something he'd rather not talk about. Drake clutched the side of the table and pulled himself onto his feet.

"I'm... Just naturally skilled." The Faunus replied, nervously.

"Are you certain that's all it is? Because I've known several people who were naturally adept with combat, but none with this caliber of skill." Ozpin said.

Drake sighed. "I'd rather not talk about where I've learned how to fight. It's... Classified."

"I understand that you have your own secrets, but I was only asking, because I am willing to give you the opportunity to attend Beacon academy."

"Th-THE Beacon Academy?! The school meant to train people to fight Grimm?" Excitement overtaking Drake's voice.

"Yes, but the choice is yours. You can choose to attend Beacon, or resume your life here in Vale, and judging by the articles pertaining to you in the newspaper, it's pretty clear which choice is the better option."

"Your right about that. Mr. Ozpin, I would like to start attending Beacon academy."

"Very good."

Ozpin outstretched a hand to Drake, waiting for him to shake. The Faunus understood, and did as he was expected. The two of them shook, binding the agreement to its fullest. Drake's Fox tail swished through air happily, barely able to contain his excitement. Drake looked to the open doorway, and it had finally occured to him as to inquire where Ruby had been taken.

"If your looking for your friend, she's down the hall, take a right, and she in the first room on the left." The Teacher informed.

"Thanks." Drake said.

He eagerly took off out of the room, rushing to rejoin the girl he'd been seperated from. Ozpin sighed before opening his scroll and dialing a number into it. He listened as the dialer rang out several times before someone had picked up the other end of the line.

"Hello?" A strong, Firm Male voice asked.

"It's Ozpin. Drake is enrolled into the academy." The Teacher informed.

"Good. Keep a close eye on him, and make sure his semblance is kept under control."

"I know. We'll watch over him, but I can't make any promises if his Semblance gets too out of hand."

"I know, but just keep the boy safe."

"Understood. Goodbye, A-"

"Don't say my name! This call might be getting traced."

The person on the receiving end of the call had hung up abruptly. Ozpin sighed once again, putting his scroll away. The person he'd been calling seemed unusually angry. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he grabbed his Cane out of the doorway, and proceeded out the room.

* * *

The sound of rapid footsteps rang through the hallways, echoing through to the room holding Ruby and Glynda. Glynda was semi baffled as to who it could be before realizing that only one person would be rushing down the hallway. The footsteps got louder as Drake approached, but Ruby wasn't quite sure it was him. Her unsurities were put at ease once Drake appeared in the doorway.

"Ruby!" He yelled happily, despite she being only a few feet away.

"Drake!" She yelled in response.

Ruby sprung up from her seat and leaped over the table to get closer to her newest friend. She stopped directly in front of him, trying to look into his eyes, despite their somewhat height differences. While she peered into those Amber and Blue eyes, the Faunus stared into her bright Silver orbs. In the few moment they shared in looking at one another, they began to understand one another. Behind Drake's eyes, Ruby saw anguish, heartbreak, sadness, and longing for Hope. Within Ruby's, the Faunus boy saw Joy, Excitement, Danger, and even a little depression. To them, it felt like they'd been staring at one another for an eternity, when on reality it was only two minutes.

"I hate to break up such a moment, but I must speak with Miss Rose." Ozpin said.

Ruby, Drake, and Glynda's gazes were diverted to the Gray haired man, who now held a plate of cookies for some reason. Ruby returned to her seat behind the table, while Drake leaned against the doorway. Ozpin entered the room, due to the doorway being blocked by the previously staring teens.

"Ruby Rose. You..." Ozpin said.

He leaned in close to observe the red cloaked girl. Ruby leaned back against her chair, her face showing confusing as to what the man was looking for.

"Have silver eyes." The Man said.

"Uh, um..." Ruby stammered out, her eyes darting left and right rapidly.

"So. Where did you learn to do this?" Ozpin asking, motioning to a captured video of Ruby's fight at the dust shop.

"S-signal Academy?" Ruby stammered out, nervously.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see."

Ozpin placed the platter of cookies down on the table and Ruby just looked at them like they were poisonous. A moment later, she hesitantly grabbed one and ate it whole. Her eyes widened, and she quickly scarfed down the rest of the cookies.

"Its just that I've seen only one other scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow." Ozpin explained.

"Das mah Uncre." Ruby said through a mouthful of cookies.

Ozpin's expression became a sneer in confusion at the young girls garbled words. Ruby quickly wiped her mouth and gave quick giggle.

"Sorry. That's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like 'hooooo whatcha'." Ruby explained, doing little poses with her last words.

"So I've noticed. And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well. I want to be a Huntress." Ruby's tone turned serious.

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah. I only have two more years at Signal til I apply for Beacon. You see, my sister is starting there this year and she's trying to become a Huntress. And I'm trying to become a Huntress cause I wanna help people. And my parents always taught us to help people, so I figured, you know, may as well make a career out of it. The police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more exciting and romantic." She paused to squill "Y'know!?"

Glynda looked unsure of the girl due to how excited she had become. Ozpin just stared at her for a moment, trying to process all of what she said. Drake, being the outlier of the group, decided to point out something useless.

"You. Have a rediculous lung capacity." He pointed out.

Ruby giggled lightly.

"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked, rediverting attention to the matter at hand.

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the Headmaster of Beacon."

"Hello." The Headmaster greeted.

"Nice to meet you." The Young Reapette responded.

"So. You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin looked to Glynda, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, alright." Ozpin said.

To say Ruby was happy would be a broad understatement. She was at the very pinnacle of excitement. She sprung out from her seat and immediately wrapped Drake into a hug, surprising him. Although it felt awkward, he meekly hugged her back. They remained that way before Ruby gasped.

"What time is it?" She asked quickly.

"Uh. I think about 9:15 Why?" Drake told.

"I was supposed to be home an hour ago!"

Drake understood her reason for panic, and rushed out the door, unknowingly holding her hand.

 **Hello! I'm back everyone. Sorry for the long wait, I just had to take my time to write this. As said in the update, I want to write good material. Also, I've been doing alot of stuff as of late. I promise, I won't take as long as it did for this one. Also, extra stories like the Crossover, and the secret story won't be around for some time. Now, before I go, I am well aware that there are grammar errors and such in my story. It's kinda hard when you have to use an aweful typing app, on a cracked phone. Anyways, it's been an amazing time, but now we part ways for now.**


	3. Chapter 3: Two Lights

**Hello everyone and welcome back to The Light that Binds Us. Last time, Drake and Ruby met professor Ozpin, who offered them an opportunity to attend Beacon. They both Accepted, but the good times didn't last as Ruby realized the time. Enjoy.**

 _ **In the end, will they even survive?**_

 _What do you mean?_

 ** _I mean, are you really putting all your hopes on that boy?_**

 _You know him, so you should know my answer._

 ** _Your not wrong about that, but you know that he's a dangerous one._**

 _I know the risk, but I've learned to have faith in those who seem unlikely._

 ** _I guess we will just have to see how events play out._**

 _I guess we will._

 ** _But who knows. As you've said, Light is full of surprises._**

 _True._

 ** _However, what if things don't go as planned?_**

 _Then Maybe the boy can defy fate, and help light prevail in this endless struggle._

* * *

It was 10 PM in the dead of Night within Vale. Many people and Faunus had turned in, save for those who worked at those times and the common Night Owls. With most of the populace in bed, one would expect there to be near steadfast silence within the many districts of Vale. Unfortunately, that statement laid invalid as unusually loud footsteps were heard within a part of the Residential District. Through the natural darkness, it could be seen that one person was being dragged by another.

"Drake, stop for a moment!" Ruby yelled out to the boy.

"I'm trying to get you home!" Drake replied.

"But you don't know where I live!"

Drake slowed down for a moment and processed what Ruby had said. He opened his mouth to respond but was at a lose for words. He stopped completely, right on the edge of another house, holding onto Ruby's hand tighter to keep her from going off. Once she was safe from falling off, he let go of her hand, looked at her and blushed while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Ruby giggled. "It's okay. I understand you were only looking out for me, but you should seriously let me lead."

"Hehe. Yeah." Drake replied with a dopey smile.

"Now, let's get off the rooftop before one of us gets hurt."

"Yeah, good idea."

The Red Cloaked girl quickly ran over to the house ledge and lept down. The Blue scarfed Faunus went to do the same, but lost his footing and fell off, landing flat on his chest. Ruby gasped and kneeled at his side.

"You okay?" Ruby asked, keeping her calm.

"Yeah. I'll live." Drake said. "Unfortunately." He mumbled.

"Are you sure? You fell pretty hard."

"I said I'm fine! What more do you need me to say?"

"S-sorry." She said, mildly upset.

Ruby backed away from the now aggressive Faunus. Drake sat up, somewhat angry for whatever reason Ruby couldn't discern. He looked over to her and dropped his aggression after seeing her fearful reaction.

"I'm sorry Ruby. It's just that no one ever offers to help me up if I fall or whatever. Most people just look at me with disgust and usually tell me that I'm nothing." Drake admitted.

"I had no idea. D... Do you have any friends?" The Young Reapette asked.

Drake chuckled before responding, "Nope. Been on my own for quite some time. That's why I'm exstatic for being enrolled in Beacon."

"Well. I'll be your friend if you want."

"I'd like that. You should be heading on home Ruby."

"Wait, don't you have anywhere to go?"

"Nope. Haven't got a job, so can't rent an apartment."

Ruby immediately bolted to his side and pulled him up rapidly. She almost pulled him up too fast as he lost balance for a moment. Quickly finding it, he looked at Ruby, who had an enormous grin plastered on her face. She look ready to explode in excitement.

"Uh... Why so excited?" Drake asked meekly.

"What if I, Ruby Rose, brought you over to my house for the night?" She said, excitement sneaking into her voice.

"Ruby, I don't exactly know how your family works, but I can almost guarantee that your parents are gonna say no."

"Nah, my dad won't mind. Besides, who can say no to a face like this?"

Ruby gave Drake an adorable look. Her eyes looked bigger, with more light shining on them. Her cheeks were lightly puffed out, and her lip gave the ever so slightest quiver.

"Okay. That is cute. But still, I know your father won't let some random boy you just met into his house. Especially if you show up with him after your curfew." The Faunus reasoned.

"I guarantee I can convince him to let you stay for at least tonight." Ruby said.

Drake sighed. "Okay. Lead the way, Rose girl."

Ruby giggled before grabbing Drake by the wrist and lead/dragged him to her house. Little chatter had happened between the two, but that could be expected from two people who barely know much about one another. They were left to their own thoughts and ideas, though most of them were diverted to the person with them.

 _This girl is so strange. Why is she so nice to me when she barely knows a thing about me? Well, I suppose that I may as well try and make a friend before I take off tomorrow. Drake thought._

 _Drake. He's so mysterious, so knowledgeable. Not to mention, he seems interesting. Although I can only learn so much without talking to him. Ruby thought._

* * *

After some walking, the time accelerated to 11 PM, and the two had ended up in a section of the neighborhood that was unfamiliar to the free running Faunus. Ruby abruptly turned right, walking onto a driveway holding a Black and Yellow motorcycle, and a Bronze and Yellow four seater car. Drake raised an eyebrow in suspicion of the red cloaked girl who'd lead him. She walked up to the door and knocked twice before the sound of running sounded from within the abode.

The door to the house flew open at lightning speed, revealing a young woman with bloody red eyes and a massive amount of golden blonde hair. She was clad in a bright orange shirt with a darker Orange heart like emblem. As for lower body apparel, she was wearing a pair of black shorts that stopped mid-thigh. Though her eyes were a piercing shade of Crimson, they immediately turned to a brighter shade of lilac purple when she looked upon Ruby. The blonde woman pulled Ruby into a tight hug.

"Ruby! Your okay!" She said.

"Can't... Breathe." Ruby choked out, feeling the air slowly drain from her body.

"I'm just so happy that your okay!"

"Yang, I'm 16. You don't need to treat me like a little kid."

"You had dad and me worried about you. Where have you been anyways?" The girl now know as Yang asked.

"I sort of got wrapped up in a store heist, but that's not all. I met someone new."

"Ooohhh. Did my baby sis finally get a boyfriend?"

Ruby immediately blushed a deep shade of scarlet "Yang! Don't tease me about that. Anyways, meet Drake."

"Hey." Drake said meekly.

Yang simply stared at him, whether in confusion of trying to figure out a possibility of what had happened. Drake's darted left and right rapidly, nervous about the whole situation of meeting Ruby's sibling. Yang's eyes turned red again, and the faunus boy took that as a sign for trouble to come. He took a step back from the door, but Yang beat him to the punch and tackled him to the ground.

"What did do to my sister!?" Yang yelled at him.

"Are you crazy?! I didn't do anything!" Drake replied fearfully.

"Oh yeah, then where have you two been?"

"How should I know?"

Yang raised one her hands back, balled it into a fist, and readied to punch the boys lights out. He winced in fear and waited for what he believed to be the inevitable. A few moments passed, and no pain had transcended upon him. Squinting one eye open, he watched as Ruby struggled to hold back the raging blonde's arm. Afraid that if he moved, more pain would be to come, he just lay still as can be. Not that it was much of an option, as Yang was holding one of his arms pinned against the ground.

"Yang stop! He's not the reason I'm late, and he didn't do anything to me." Ruby pleaded.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you late?" Yang asked.

"I told you, I had to stop a dust shop heist. Then I met a Huntress and now I've been accepted into Beacon."

"Wait. What?" The blonde asked skeptically.

"Uh, I met a Huntress?"

"After that."

"I got accepted into Beacon?"

As soon as Ruby finished her statement, Yang's body froze up completely. She stopped resisting Ruby's grasp on her arm, and eased her grip on Drake's arm. Her eyes returned to purple and the fury behind them vanished all but completely. Yang slowly got off of Drake and stared at her sister, who was still a little confused. At what seemed like Lightspeed, Yang was suddenly holding Ruby in a bone crushing hug.

"I can't believe it! My baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best thing ever!" Yang shouted in absolute happiness and excitement.

"C-can't... Breathe..." Ruby choked out as she felt the air leave her body.

"I'm so proud of you Ruby."

Ruby's body fell limp as she remained stuck in her sisters arms, unable to breathe. The blonde released her sister from the deadly bear hug she'd held her in. Ruby fell to her knees and breathed deeply, trying desperately to get air in her lungs.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Yang." Drake said.

"Same. Sorry about, y'know, accusing you." Yang apologized.

"It's fine. Your not the first to accuse me of something."

"Oh. S-sorry. So, uh, are you gonna head home or something?"

"Haven't got a home, so you might find me on a building in the shopping district."

Yang looked to Ruby, who was giving her the famous Ruby begging look. Feeling guilty about just leaving him outside, Yang sighed.

"If you want, you can stay here for the night." Yang offered.

"I'm pretty sure your father would gut me in my sleep."

"He's not that mean, and besides, he's out on some sort of Huntsmen job. He shouldn't mind."

The Faunus sighed. "Fine. But where will I sleep?"

"On the couch of course. You may seem nice, but I won't let you bunk with Ruby. Yet."

"Yang!" Ruby cried in embarrassment, punching her sister.

"I'm just playing Ruby." Yang said with a giggle.

Drake gave a small chuckle at the two sisters antics. The way they played with one another, and still knew they loved each other warmed the boys heart of ice. His quiet chuckle spiraled into laughter, spawning confused reactions from the two sisters. The two simply looked at him with a questionable look on their faces.

"What's so funny?" Yang asked.

"It's you two. You seem like your opposites to an extent, but your still the best of siblings." Drake explained.

"Of course we get along together. Yang practically helped raise me after all." Ruby said.

"Still, I'm glad to see two sisters getting along."

"What about you? Got any siblings?" Yang asked.

That question alone brought about pure silence in the night air. Not another word was uttetered from anyone within that moment. An expression of darkness came across Drake. It was almost as though all the life was taken away from the Faunus boy.

"Uuhhh..." Yang said, easing the silence out of the air.

"As far as I know, I either don't have any siblings, or they died." The Faunus spoke, an almost venomous tone taking his voice.

"That's not good. Drake... I'm sorry if you've lost someone important to you."

"You couldn't have known it was a sensitive subject, so it's fine."

"No it's not. It clearly hurt you, and even though I don't know you all that well, I still want to make sure your okay." The Blonde said.

"I appreciate that Yang, but I've already intruded on your lives enough as it is. I'm leaving. Maybe I'll see you in Vale, Maybe I won't."

Drake went to leave the premises of the two sisters' home, but his body refused to obey his commands. It were almost as though he were magnetized to them. To Ruby and Yang though, he looked like a frozen statue, rather than someone struggling to move from one spot.

"You okay there Drake?" Yang questioned.

"Sort of. I'm still thinking about your offer." Drake responded.

"Please say you'll stay? Pretty please?" Ruby begged, giving him a look that was cute enough to kill.

Unfortunately, the Fox Faunus wasn't made of Ice, so he responded with "Fine. But only because of your damn cuteness."

"Yay!"

Ruby threw her arms around Drake squeezing him tightly against herself. Rather than fight the girls grasp, he accepted, wrapping his own arms around the girl. Once again, it felt as though time had slowed down for the two of them. Though the moment felt sweet, cute, and mildly romantic, it was bound to be ruined.

"You two are so adorable!" Yang outright screamed.

"Yang! Shut up!" Ruby whined back.

Once again Drake chuckled at the sisters. He released Ruby from the hug she'd pulled him into, as she did the same for him. He smiled at the shorter girl, feeling a sudden rush of thoughts flood into his mind.

 _Maybe. Maybe I shouldn't do it. Maybe there is a reason to be alive. Drake thought._

"C'mon you two. Let's get inside." Yang said.

"Yeah. You coming Drake?" The reapette asked.

"Yeah." He responded.

The three of them walked into the house, closing the door and sealing the cold night air outside. The feeling of warmth washed over Ruby and Drake's senses. Looking around, Drake noticed that the front door opened to a cozy looking living room. The furniture occupying sed room was a large three person couch, a two person love seat, a coffee table in front of the two and a 48 inch flat screen television.

"Nice house." Drake complimented.

"Thanks. Oh, I should show you my room." Ruby said.

Before the faunus could reject, Ruby had already taken hold of his arm and proceeded to drag him to her room. Choosing to just stay quiet rather than protest, Drake felt better off for it. Ruby had led him to a door which, unsurprisingly, had a large red rose where the doorknob would be. Ruby grabbed the knob and opened the door up, revealing her not quite girly room. Ruby pushed him as she joined him, closing the door behind her.

"So. What do you think?" Ruby asked, grinning ear to ear.

The boy was simply at a loss for words. In one of the rooms corners, he noticed a sort of work table, cover in instructions, weapon parts, and what could be discerned as oil of sorts. However, that seemed to be the only thing that looked out of place, aside from all the red and rose patterns on several of the rooms surfaces. What he had expected to see was there of course; such as bed, nightstand, dresser, etc. Regardless of that though, his attention was still kept primarily on the workbench full of weapon part and instructions.

"I can see you like weapons." Drake said, feeling awkward about it.

"Like weapons?" Ruby said in a questioning tone. "I don't like weapons..."

"Oh, I s-"

"I love Weapons!" Ruby screamed in joy.

"Hehe. I can tell. Especially from that scythe thing you used during the robbery."

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle."

"Soooooo. A gun?"

"Yeah."

Drake smiled at the girls admirable excitement over what he believed to be a trivial matter. The fact that she had put such effort into a weapon like the sniper-scythe showed that she was quite devoted to her work.

"It's quite impressive. All I did to get my weapon was get them from some blacksmith or whatever." Drake said.

"Well I think they're nice. It's good to go back to the simpler things." Ruby stated with a smile.

"Still though. They melted from that fire burst attack, so I'm gonna need a new one if I'm going to Beacon."

Ruby gasped just as he finished his sentence. The reason for her surprise could've been from the destruction of his weapon, or that he was simply attending Beacon, although she already knew the latter. The oddest part was the fact that she had continually gasped for 30 seconds before closing her mouth to catch a breath. Once sed breath was caught, she started to act more giddy and excited over a matter what unbeknownst to the Faunus in the room. To him, she looked ready to explode in excitement.

"You okay Ruby? You look a little excited." Drake questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh huh." Ruby said, though she said it at a speed where the words were harder to descern.

"Well. Whacha excited about?"

"I can help you make a new weapon!" The reapette shouted in one loud outburst.

"What? Really? You'd help me make a new weapon?" Drake inquired, his Fox ears twitching as well as his Tail swishing back and forth in through the air.

"Uh huh. And we can make it awesome. With a hidden blade, and guns, and-"

"Whoa girl. Calm down some. We can work on the design tomorrow, okay?"

"But. But I wanna work on it now." Ruby whined.

"Sorry Ruby, but it's late, and we need to rest." Drake reasoned.

"Okay..."

Ruby looked downtrodden that she couldn't work on the weapon design. Drake placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder and gave a her a comforting smile, which actually made her smile a little. He left her room, leaving the rose girl all by her lonesome. Ruby sighed and went to her dresser to pull on some pajamas.

 _Its too bad that we couldn't talk more, but at least I've made a new friend. Ruby thought_

Standing outside of Ruby's door was Yang, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her rather wellfully endowed chest. Once Drake had closed Ruby's door, he and Yang stared one another down with mixed emotions between their gazes. Within Yang's, she held excitement, adventurism, and a need to defend her loved ones. Behind Drake's eyes, there was yearning, a loss of hope, and the ever lingering sense of regret. The two read one another through their locked eye contact.

"You know, Rubes and I can convince dad to let you stay until we all start attending Beacon." Yang offered.

"Like I told you outside, I don't want to intrude in y'alls home. I'm sorry Yang, but this is just something the hands of fate have locked into place." Drake replied, becoming semi-poetic near the end.

Yang sighed. "Then at least stay for the night. I'm not sure if you could tell, but Ruby cares about you. She considers you as a friend."

Drake broke his gaze with Yang and looked to the beige shaded carpet. Hearing that someone considered him as more than just some kind of animal. The fact that someone even remotely cared about him brought a bit of hope back to him. He looked back up to Yang, this time with a small glimmer of hope.

"I'll... Consider your offer." Drake replied simply.

"Thank you. Do you want something to change into? Y'know, get more comfortable." The blonde asked.

"Nah. I keep a pair of night clothes in my internal coat pockets, though I don't use them often."

"Alright. Well, goodnight. I'm heading to my room."

"Okay. Goodnight Yang."

As Yang left the boy in the hall, a singular thought ran through her mind. Just what was Drake hiding from her and her sister? Shoving it off as something that she shouldn't get involved with, Yang entered her room at the beginning of the hall, and went straight to bed. With her in bed, only one person was still awake. With a sigh, he headed to the living room to change into some night clothes since he didn't know where the bathroom was, and was sure no one would walk in on him.

"I wish that I could find more people like these two, but I already know the world just isn't that way." Drake said to himself.

He quickly finished changing and looked over how he appeared in the remarkably reflective Living Room window. He wore a short black sleeved shirt depicting a night sky with a blue and purple like cloud cover similar to an aurora. Bottom wear was just a pair of solid black shorts. Drake sighed and turned to see the scarf he'd discarded while changing. The sight of it brought about a calming gaze from him, but at the same time, a tear filled look. His Fox ears flattened against his head as memories began to resurface to him. The boy brought the scarf the his cheek and nuzzled it while sniffling from the memories it held.

"I promised I'd never forget you." He said, as though someone had heard.

He carefully folded it and placed on the coffee table before walking to what he called a bed for the night. He layed down on the three person couch and closed his eyes, hoping to put away the memories the piece of apparel brought up.

* * *

 **And that's all I wrote. Sorry if the chapter is shorter than usual, but I wanted to release a chapter before my Winter Break. I can't post over it due to lack of internet at home. Sorry, but that won't stop me from at least writing. Happy holidays, and see y'all next year. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	4. Chapter 4: True Friends

**Here's the new chapter for everyone. Warning, May contain a sensitive subject later on. Still, Enjoy.**

* * *

 _ **It seems you may need to alter your plan.**_

 _What do you mean?_

 _ **He's made friends.**_

 _Who's to say I didn't count for that to happen?_

 ** _You can stop acting like you've planned this._**

 _Well it doesn't matter. Who knows, maybe these girls will actually be what seals his fate in the end._

 ** _What do you mean?_**

 _You'll have to find out when that time comes._

 ** _Fine. And what of you? Have you given thought to who will be your guardian?_**

 _You should know my response._

 ** _You and your obsession with Roses._**

 _Well, you know me._

 _ **I suppose your right.**_

* * *

It was 2 in the morning, and all were asleep in the Xioa Long/Rose household except for one restless blonde. She tossed and turned in her bed, but couldn't find a comfortable position. Grunting in frustration, she sat up and threw the bed covers off of herself. She got out of bed and walked out her room towards the kitchen, hoping some food would calm her nerves. Along the way, she heard a noise come from the Living Room. Feeling intrigued, Yang went to investigate the source of the sound.

The room was dark, save for rays of moonlight shining in through the window. The moon's illumination gave her just enough light to see who or what was causing the sound. She gazed upon the sight of an unconscious Fox faunus squirming and groaning as if in pain. Yang's mouth gaped a little in surprise of the sight. She took a sat on the love seat and watched Drake move in pain from the nightmare plaguing him. It was when he started sleep talking that Yang's concern grew more.

"N-no. Please. Don't go! Sis!" Drake called out, as if awake.

Yang gasped and immediately shut her mouth after, hoping he hadn't woken up. The Faunus had gone silent and turned on his side, facing the couch cushion. After his little outburst, Yang breathed a sigh of relief. With the near slip up, she started to understand the motive behind his actions earlier.

 _That's why he didn't want to stay earlier. He was afraid that if he made friends, they'd only be taken away from him. Yang thought_

Somehow, as if on cue, Drake's dreamlike mumbles came back. He rolled onto his back, with his eyes still closed.

"Mommy? Where are you going? O-oh. Okay. See you when you get back. I love you" Drake said dreamily.

Once he'd said that though, for the first time, Yang saw a genuine smile on Drake's face. Unlike his previous one when they were first acquainted, this one had a heartfelt glow to it. One full of life, joy, and even some excitement. The fact that such emotions could be found within one simple gesture was heartwarming to Yang. Somewhere in her heart, she felt that she shouldn't leave him alone. So with good intentions in heart and mind, she lifted the sleeping Faunus from his resting place and carried him back to her room. With tender care, she placed him down and walked back to the living room to gather his clothes for him, when her eye was caught by his scarf, the only piece of clothing folded.

"What's with this scarf of his?" Yang asked herself.

She set his other clothes down and picked up the scarf, making sure to keep it folded. It looked smooth, like velvet, but it felt rather soft and had a comforting feeling to it. The scarf had black and blue mixing in a display of swirls and curls. At one of the scarf's ends, there was a spiral star, which Yang assumed to be Drake's symbol.

"What memories does this scarf hold for him?" The blonde questioned.

Yang yawned, re-realizing that she was still tired and needed to get back to sleep. She took the scarf with her back to her room and tenderly lay it down on her Nightstand and gazed down at the sleeping Fox faunus on her bed. He was laying on his back, trying to hog the bedsheets. Yang sighed and rolled her eyes before getting into the bed. The sudden warmth from her laying next to him made Drake release the blanket he held in a death grip. Yang smiled and felt herself quickly slipping back into her dreams.

 _Huh. I guess all I needed was someone by my side. Who'd have guessed? Yang thought._

Yang's eyes slammed shut, cutting her from reality, and welcoming her into the clarity and peace of sleep. With her mind in her dreams, her body began acting subconsciously. Her arms wrapped themselves over Drake, pulling him closer. In response, Drake's wrapped his arms around her, and the two remained that way for the rest of the night.

* * *

Several hours passed, and not another outburst occured from anyone within the house. It remained silent, more so than usual. It wasn't until around 11 AM did even a single life start to awaken. Ruby yawned quietly as her eyes flickered open. They immediately shut back closed as they were blinded from the window light.

"Neeeeh! Go away light!" Ruby whined.

With another complaint or two, Ruby slinked out of bed and lazily slumped to the door. She opened the door and immediately straightened up while making her way to the livingroom. Once there, she noticed Drake wasn't on either couch, but in her state of tired, it took a moment for her to register the new info. Once done, she gasped.

"Oh no! What if he left in the middle of the night? I hope he's okay." The Rose girl panicked.

She ran to Yang's room and knocked furiously on the door. Unfortunately for her, no one answered, meaning that Yang was still asleep. Ruby shoved the door open and gasped once more at the scene she'd walked into. She gazed at the sight of Drake sleeping in the same bed as her sister, with the two cuddling with one another.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" Ruby screamed.

Out of the two of them, Drake was the one who woke up with a shriek. He rolled off the bed in surprise, which unfortunately resulted in Yang being dragged with him. So, the two fell rather ungracefully from the bed, the Faunus boy being on the bottom, and the Blonde on top. Ruby, being the bystander in the whole debacle, was still in some shock at finding her sister sleeping with a boy she'd just met.

"What the heck is going on?" Drake questioned, he himself confused with the whole situation.

"What do you mean what's going on? You slept with my sister!" Ruby screamed.

"WHAT!?"

"Stop being so loud!" Yang yelled, awoken and cranky from all the yelling.

"I'll stop being loud when you start explaining why Drake was sleeping with you."

Yang groaned, still cranky from the rude awakening and pushed herself off from the Faunus she was crushing. Meanwhile Drake laughed lightly from feeling two squishy somethings lift off his chest. Yang rolled her eyes and stood up, looking slightly down at her sister. Ruby still had an angry gaze of her eyes slightly squinted, furrowed eyebrows, and a frown on her face.

"We were just sleeping in the same bed Rubes." Yang explained.

"But why?" Ruby asked, dropping her angry expression.

"I got up in the middle of the night and on the way to the kitchen, I heard Drake panicking from a nightmare. So I figured that he'd need someone to comfort him while he slept, and that's why."

"O-oh. Sorry I accused you." Ruby's face flushed with redness with her statement.

"Aww. I forgive you Little Sis!"

Once again, for the fourth time in the past twenty-four hours, Yang pulled Ruby into a hug that squeezed the life and air from her body. Ruby struggled for life supplying oxygen, and found herself starting to black out. Only when her vision was nearly gone had Yang released her from her death grip. Ruby inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to circulate oxygen through her body.

"Stop. Doing. That." Ruby said between breathes.

"Sorry Rubes. You know I get a little carried away." Yang apologized.

"Okay. Well, let's get some breakfast."

"Sounds good. What do y'all want?"

"Pancakes!" Drake shouted in excitement.

"Woah. You okay there bud?"

"O-oh, yeah. Sorry, it's just been forever since I've had pancakes."

"Its fine. I'll get to making some and leave you and Ruby alone."

Ruby tried to object, but Yang had already dashed off into the kitchen. She sighed and turned her sight on Drake, who was blushing madly.

"You okay Drake?" Ruby asked.

"Oh. Yeah. Why do you ask?" Drake responded.

"Your blushing."

"Well maybe thats because I'm in the same room as a really cute girl."

"Who?"

"Uh... You."

"Me?"

"Your the only girl in this room."

Ruby's face gained a blush faster than a spreading forest fire. She tried to say something, but couldn't find the words to say. So, she just stood there, mouth agape, trying to find the right words.

"You okay Ruby?"

Rather than using words, Ruby spoke with her actions instead. She grabbed Drake, and quickly dragged him to her room, accidentally slamming the door shut once they were both inside. The room was more or less the same as from last night, except for the fact that the work table had many sketches of what could be seen as weapon sketches and concepts. Plastered upon Ruby's face was another huge smile, similar to the one from the night before.

"I... See you've been busy." Drake said, his tone flat and his expression semi-neutral.

"I could hardly sleep at the thought of helping you with a new weapon, so I maaaay have stayed up making sketches." The Rose girl answered cheekily.

"How late?"

"1:30."

"While I appreciate your want to help, I still want you to worry about your well being."

"I'm sorry, but how about I show you some sketches."

"Sounds good."

And so, the two went on to review the sketches and ideas for weapons for the next half hour. They went through many ideas, ranging from Swords, to Maces, Halberds and Spears, even a better chain sickle. However, at the end of the discussion, the two decided that making a MechaShift Gunblade and sheath would be best suited for Drake.

"And that's the weapon you choose?" Ruby asked.

"Thats right. I know you''ve barely seen my capabilities, but I assure I'm well versed in swordplay." The Fox faunus bragged.

"Well, mister high and mighty, how about you-"

"BREAKFAST IS READY!" Yang shouted from the kitchen.

Their conversation was put on hold as breakfast called their names. Like two young siblings, they raced one another to the kitchen. Naturally, Ruby beat Drake to the kitchen, but it was thanks to two things. She actually knew where the kitchen was, and her semblance was speed.

"Bout time you two came. What were y'all doing?" Yang asked.

"We were talking about weapons." Ruby answered.

"It must've been something else, cause I had to call for you two five times."

"We promise, that's really all it was." Drake said, trying to convince her.

"Uh huh, whatever. Anyways, pancakes are done."

Yang got out three plates and started piling the cooked goods onto each. As she presented Drake and Ruby's plate to them, they noticed there were both chocalate chips and strawberries backed right into the food.

"I thought it didn't take long for pancakes to cook." The Faunus inquired.

"Well, I was also baking something else." Yang responded.

A loud ding rang through the room. Yang quickly grabbed her oven mitts and reached into the burning oven. From it, she pulled out a tray of freshly baked-

"Cookies!" Ruby screamed in pleasure.

"Just for you Rubes." Yang said.

"Yay!"

Yang moved them from the hot baking pan and onto a cold plate.

Yang placed the plate down, and Ruby wasted no time in scarfing down the baked goodies. Drake sighed and started to eat his pancakes, feeling slightly downtrodden. A loud scrape sounded from the table as half a plate of cookies slid into his vision. He looked up to see Ruby smiling once more.

"Really? I can?" Drake questioned, a small smile beginning to form on his face.

"Of course. Your my friend after all." Ruby answered.

"Thank you. I'm so flattered."

He haphazardly reached for one and quickly swiped it from the plate. Devouring it in half a second, he relished the taste of the chocolate cookie. I soft smile formed as his tastebuds were sent to nirvana.

"So good." The Faunus said through a mouth full of cookie.

"Glad you like them. I baked them myself." Yang bragged.

"And there's that over-inflated ego of yours." Ruby said.

"Who says I'm just not proud of myself?"

"I'm just saying you have a big head."

"More like big breasts." Drake murmured.

"What was that?" The blonde questioned.

"Nothing!"

"C'mon, tell me."

"I'd rather not."

"Tell me."

"No."

"How bad could it have been?" Ruby inquired.

"Bad enough for Yang to break one of my arms."

"Come on. If you tell me, I'll give you a kiss." The blonde offered.

"Um...no."

"Fine your missing out."

Sighing in relief, Drake returned to his pancakes now that neither of his arms were broken. With every syrup soaked bite, he relished the taste of the food he'd had on too few occasions. He'd actually finished off the plate within 5 minutes. Getting up from the table, he placed the plate in the sink and went back to the living room. When his gaze fell upon the coffee table, he finally noticed that his scarf was missing.

 _Where's my scarf!? Drake panicked internally._

His internal freak out turned into a physical freak out. He started to rummage through the houses various furnishings and commodities looking for the scarf. However, his search wasn't exactly the quietest, as he knocked over several objects, and he was lucky none of it broke. A moderately loud tread came from the kitchen, likely Yang coming to see what was going on. When she entered the living room, she saw Drake looking beneath the couch.

"What are you doing?" Yang asked calmly.

"Looking for my scarf!" The Fox answered, still looking frantically.

"Your scarf? It's back in my room."

Rather than replying like a rational person, Drake rushed straight Yang's room, forcing the door open rather than opening it normally. Spotting the black and blue accessory, he rushed to the nightstand it rested on and quickly wrapped it around his neck. Yang was hot on his heels and sighed in relief when she saw that her room wasn't wrecked.

"That scarf must be pretty important to you." Yang observed.

"Yeah. It means a lot more to me than you'd believe." Drake informed.

"Oh I believe it. Especially with the way you freaked out when you thought you'd lost it."

"Yeah."

The conversation was dropped and the two went back to the livingroom, to which Ruby was eagerly awaiting. Deciding to indulge herself in Ruby's 'hobby', Yang took a seat and decided to listen to what her sister would ramble about this time.

"So, for what reason are we gathered in here?" Yang asked.

"Well, you don't necessarily have to be here Yang, just Drake." Ruby said.

"Oh. I see. You just want some alone time with your boyfriend."

"Yang! You know it's not like that!"

"I know, but your reaction is just priceless."

"Hmph. Anyways, Do you wanna review your Gunblade sketch?"

"Yeah. I just hope we've got the parts to make it." Drake said.

"Even if we don't, we can go out and buy some parts."

"Okay."

Ruby brought forth her sketch of the Gunblade concept. In ordinary form, it appeared to be a simple blade, save for the bottom half looking like two sheets of metal bolted together, and the top half curving slightly, signifying it was a kitana of sorts. She then presented a sketch of its transformation process. The top half folded into the back, which split vertically back towards the handle. The handle itself contorted to one of the hand edges giving it a handgun appearence.

"Not bad, but does it have a semi converted form?" Drake questioned.

"I'm glad you asked." Ruby replied cheerfully.

The next sketch presented the weapon in the form of a Falchion. The weapons cutting edge was split into two sheets of metal that paralleled vertically, yet down near the handle, there was the pistols gun barrel.

"Hmm..." Drake hummed.

"Is it good?" Ruby asked, awaiting judgement.

"Its... Good. But what about the sheath?"

"Oh, that's a bit easier to figure out."

She then presented a literal blueprint of the weapon sheath. It looked to be too large to hold the weapon properly, as it had a blocky appearance. However, the blueprint specified that the was only one holding slot for the sword itself, and the rest was meant to be used as a second weapon, as indicated with a side handle, and ammo holster.

"So. What do you think?" Ruby asked, a cheeky grin plastered on her childlike face.

"Well, they are excellent designs, but I'm still a bit iffy on the Gunblade." The Faunus critiqued.

"What needs to be changed?"

"Well, I like that it's a katana and a mechashift, but I feel that in gun form, it still needs to have a sort of blade."

"Okay. And the Falchion form?"

"It seems rather useless. No offense."

"Its okay. What about the sheath?"

"Well, the sheath is actually quite good, but it needs to be able to support a ranged mode." He recommended.

"Like how?"

"A combinable sniper mode with the sword's pistol form."

"Okay. What about ammo type?"

".5 calibur, Armor pearcing hollow points for the sniper, and 9mm high impact pistol bullets."

"Hollow points?" Yang questioned.

"They're super powerful at pearcing armor, and effect at knocking out someone's aura with several shots." The reapette lectured.

"Wow. Sounds like an assassins go to choice."

"Actually, there is a second sniper choice called red marked rounds. They are just as, if not, more effect than hollow points." Drake said.

"Which is why your settling for the same calibur of rounds as my Crescent Rose."

"Awww. Fine."

"Alrighty, now that that's been settled, we should get dressed and get to making it."

"Right."

They each went off to their own rooms to get changed, save for Drake, as he went to Yang's room to retrieve his clothes. Once he got them though, he was kicked out of the room so Yang could get clothed. Sighing at what he should've expected, he once again went back to the living room and changed there. Being rather quick with changing, he headed back to Ruby's door and knocked.

"You done changing Ruby?" Drake called out.

"Yeah! Come on in." Ruby called back.

Drake entered the room and saw that Ruby was eager to begin constructing the weapon that he'd be using for the duration of their school year. Her excitement was easily visible, as she was bouncing in place, giddy with excitement.

"Before we start to make my weapon, I wanna learn more about you." Drake requested.

"O-oh. Okay." Ruby agreed to.

"So where should we start?"

"I guess some base knowledge."

"Well... I'm a Faunus. I've lived on the streets for about 6 months, and I've been... Self trained."

"Okay. Well, I've trained at Signal for two years, and I would've had to for another two were it not for us being accepted into Beacon."

"Cool."

Unsure of what more to talk about, the two looked away from one another, an awkward silence settling between them. Drake fidgeting with his scarf, and Ruby running a hand over her cloak, which she brought into her lap.

"Sooo... Where'd you get the cloak?" Drake questioned.

"What!?" Ruby gasped.

"Um. Your cloak. What's so special about it?"

Ruby couldn't answer as tears began to quickly flood her vision. Drake backed away slowly, unsure why mentioning the cloak was bringing the reaction Ruby was having. Tearstained streaks began to run down Ruby's face at a rapid pace, as she couldn't hold back her own flood of emotions. Drake swiftly left her room and made a break for the front door. Along the way, he passed by Yang, who was struck with confusion.

"Where are you going?" Yang yelled out.

No response came from the fleeing Fox Faunus, but she did begin to hear the sobs of her redheaded sister. The blonde clenched her fists, slightly mad that Drake made her sister cry. She burst into Ruby's room and beheld the tearjerking sight of Ruby curled up in a tight ball, bawling her eyes out in sadness. She rushed to her side and held her in an attempt to console the sadness that plagued Ruby.

"Sh sh sh. It's okay Ruby, just tell big sister Yang what's wrong." Yang whispered in her ear.

"M-mom..." Ruby choked out though her sniffles and tears.

"What about Mom?" A painful feeling went through Yang's heart.

"I miss mom."

"I miss her too Rubes. Wait. Did Drake say something about Mom?"

"My cloak..."

"He asked about the cloak?"

Ruby simply nodded, drying her tears up.

"Should I... Should I go find him?" Yang asked.

Again, Ruby nodded, to which Yang held her tighter. She let go of her sister and went for the door.

"I promise that I'll bring him back."

Ruby remained silent, still curled into a ball, but her tears ceased to fall. Yang rushed out of the room and out of the house, looking around frantically for a sign of Drake. When she looked far left, she saw what appeared to be a black and blue figure rounding the street corner and heading towards the forest. Taking it as the only hint she'd have to finding him, Yang rushed after the figure.

* * *

 _Why? Why did I think I could make friends? Drake thought._

He was running as fast as he could to get as far from Ruby and Yang as he could. He rounded a street corner and headed for the city limits, which was just in sight. He came to an abrupt stop, panting for breath as the overextended run had left him breathless. He looked back and was lucky to find that he hadn't been followed. He looked forward and started to walk towards leaving the city. He stopped in his tracks once more, this time not from exhaustion, but rather from the faint sound of an angry scream. Turning back once again, this time he saw a blonde figure to which he quickly realized was probably Yang.

"Oh. This doesn't bode well." Drake stated to himself.

The angry screams grew louder as the yellow figure grew closer and more visible. It was indeed Yang, and her eyes were a bloody red. Drake stood at the side of the road and watched as the raging blonde rushed towards him. Her screaming ceased and she came to a literal screeching halt. The two of them locked into an intensive stare down, with pure red meeting with Blue and Amber.

"Drake, you need to come back." Yang said.

"Why? So I can just fuck up your lives like I do with everyone?" Drake raged.

"You haven't messed up our lives."

Oh really? I've made Ruby cry, and you almost wanted to kill me the night before."

"People make mistakes. You couldn't have known that her cloak was something sensitive."

"And that just supports my claims that I deserve to be dead."

"What!? You don't deserve to die! No one does!"

"I've already made my decision. I'll just vanish, and that'll be the end of it all."

"You can't do that!"

"No one would miss me."

"Ruby would! I would! YOUR SISTER WOULD!"

At that moment, Drake froze up completely, as though petrified.

"Wh. What did you say?" Drake stifled to say.

"Your sister. She would miss you, and I bet she does miss you." Yang said.

"N-no. She wouldn't." Tears started to form in his eyes.

"Yes she would. If anything, I bet she's looking for you."

"Your wrong. You don't know her!" Saddness and Rage took over his tone.

"So what!? That doesn't mean I don't have to care about your well being!"

"You don't understand Yang! I have literally nothing."

"You HAD nothing! You've got friends now, and your even attending Beacon!"

Drake gave an exasperated sigh.

"Fine. I'll stick around." Drake said flatly.

"Thats gr-" Yang started.

"But. Only if you beat me in a fight."

"You can't be serious."

"Do I look non-serious?" He said, giving a dead glare towards the blonde brawler.

"You don't even have a weapon! It's unfair!"

"Those are my terms. Accept them and have a chance to save me, or just leave and I'll end my own life."

"Dammit! Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah yeah."

The golden bracelets on Yang wrists began to transform, taking on a gauntlet like appearance. She got into a fighters stance, with arms close together, protecting her body from any attacks. Drake took a sword wielders stance, but lacked a blade. Then, the strangest thing happened. Drake's right eye, the Amber one, changed, the pupil turning into a four-point star shape.

"What happened to your eye?" Yang asked, surprised by the transition.

"You'll find out, now get ready!" The Fox Faunus said.

The two stared one another down, the whistling wind being the only sound emenated in the area. Once the wind silenced itself, the two took action, beginning the battle. Yang started by giving off a string of rapid punches towards Drake, which fired off several Orange shells from her golden gauntlets. Drake smirked as the shells rapidly approached. At the very last second, just when it seemed dodging was no longer an option, the shells simply collapsed, not one hitting him. Yang's mouth went agape in utter shock.

"How did-" Yang started.

"My little secret." Drake said with a smirk.

Now was Drake's turn to take action. He rushed towards Yang with high speed, but still slower than Ruby. In his right hand, a glowing orb formed, leaving Yang to be wary of what it could've been. Drake leaped high into the air and the orb took form. The orb changed, shifting to form a sword. The sword itself was a 5 foot, 7 inch long, 6 inch wide double-edged Buster Sword. It required two hands to wield, so it was likely heavy and packed quite a punch. Drake swung downward, the weight of the sword allowing his descent to be faster. Just as the sword was about to make contact, Yang grabbed the blade.

"What is this?!" Yang questioned.

"My semblance is crystal." Drake answered.

The sword disappeared and Drake leaped back from his opponent, who staggered forward from the sudden force shift.

"Surprised?" Drake asked.

"Yeah. You did just pull a weapon out of nowhere." Yang said.

"Well lets get back-"

A loud roar cut him off as their attention was diverted to the nearby woods. The sound of cracking came forth from it, indicating some creature of large stature approaching. Out from the thicket of trees stepped an Ursa Major. It was an enormous black beast, roughly the size of a small airship. It's hide held white, bonelike armor, including various red markings all over. Its maw dripped with the fresh blood of its recent victim. Upons it's back were rested spikes, capable of impaling any victim unfortunate enough to be behind it.

"A Grimm..." Drake said.

"An Ursa Major?! What's it doing out here?" Yang said.

"I dunno, but we have to take care of it." He said while getting into stance.

"Yeah."

The two dropped their current battle and diverted their attention to the massive Grimm before them. It let forth a bellowing roar, capable of shaking the ground. The two teens clutched their ears in pain, but remained vigilant towards their new enemy. The Ursa started to charge them down with unnatural speed, the killing intent blazing within its blood red eyes. It first took a swipe for Yang, who expertly dodged back from the black claw. It next went for Drake, who intercepted with the strike of his buster sword. It's claw was sent back, leaving the creature staggered.

"Yang! Right shoulder!" Drake ordered.

"What?" Yang questioned.

"Attack it's right shoulder!"

"O-okay."

Yang launched a volley of concussive shells aimed mostly at the Ursa's Right arm. Two shells nailed into its side, one in its right rib cage, and five into its right shoulder area. The Ursa collapsed on from the small onslaught, using its elbow to remain upright. Drake ran up to it and stabbed his buster sword through its right paw, forcing a pained scream from it. The sword went straight through, pinning the helpless Grimm to the ground.

"Yang, end it!" Drake commanded.

"You got it!" Yang yelled.

Yang crashed her hands together, creating a miniature shockwave. She kneeled down for a moment and burst forward with blazing speed. It had actually looked like her hair had actually sparked fire and her eyes went pure red. Yang cocked an arm back and just as fast as she ran, had her fist collided with the Grimm's skull. It's bonelike 'mask' visibly cracked before a wave of energy pulsed through the Ursa before it was sent flying, it's arm being torn away from its body due to the sword planted in it. It crashed into the thicket of trees, unable to stop itself. Yang panted for breath, semi exhausted from their fight. Drake was only lightly breathing heavily and his eye shifted back to normal.

"Well. That was-" Yang started.

"Awesome!" Drake finished, excitedly.

"Excited?"

"Uh, Yeah! That was just... I can't even describe it!"

"So, back to our duel?"

"Nah. Your exhausted."

"But you said-" She started to say.

"I know what I said, but while we fought that Ursa, I realized that maybe death isn't my only option."

"That's. Good."

Yang collapsed to the ground. Her limbs sprawled out in her exhausted state, and her eyes closed. Drake sighed and walked over to his blonde friend and picked her up, carrying her in a bridal position. He held her close and began to head back to Ruby and Yang's home, smiling as he walked. Unbeknownst to him, Yang had one eye cracked open and failed to notice that she herself was smiling.

 _Who'd have guessed that two girls would be all it takes to bring me back from the brink of taking my own life. Drake thought._

 _I'm glad that Drake is coming back. I know Ruby will be happy to see him. Yang thought_

* * *

Ruby sat on her bed, long since recollecting herself from her sadness outburst. Dried tear streaks glistened her face, though they could only be seen in better lighting. She sighed, looking down in her lap and at the red cloak that she'd held so close to her heart. Raised it to her chest and clutched the bright red fabric tightly.

 _Mom. I wished I could let you meet Drake one day, that way you could see that I'm making friends. Ruby thought._

The sound of the front door opening broke Ruby from her state of mind as a sudden rush of joy rushed through her. She sprung up from her bed and rushed towards the livingroom, leaving her cloak on the bed. While quickly reaching the living room, Ruby stopped in mid run. She walked into the sight of Drake laying Yang down to rest. Ruby bit her lip in anxiousness.

"Drake!" Ruby screamed out, leaping for him with joy.

"Ruby!?" Drake gasped out.

Ruby came crashing down onto Drake with some amount of force. Luckily, Drake had caught her, but unfortunately, he couldn't keep standing. So, he fell onto his back, and gasped as he felt Ruby's weight press down on his chest.

"Whoops. You okay Drake?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. Why'd you leap at me?" Drake asked.

"I'm sorry, I was just so excited to see you were okay since I was worried you'd gotten hurt."

"Well I'm fine."

He sat back up, but continued to hold Ruby.

"Listen. I'm sorry that I made you cry earlier. I had no idea that your cloak meant a lot to you." The Fox faunus apologized.

"It's okay Drake. I'm sure you have something you hold close to your heart." The Rose girl reasoned.

"Actually. I do."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you hold close?"

The Faunus was slightly taken aback, but chose to show Ruby what he held to his heart. His hand brushed over the Black and Blue threading of his scarf, and he looked away, trying to hold back a stream of tears.

"Your scarf?" Ruby questioned, turning her head a little.

Drake simply nodded.

"I got my cloak from my mother."

"Same."

The two sat there in the floor, staring at one another. Those stormy silver eyes peering into the mixed Blue and Amber. One could only think of the two as lovers at first glance, sharing a moment. Ruby smiled and gave a light giggle.

"Come on. We have a gunblade to make." Ruby said, smiling cutely.

"Yeah." Drake responded, the dread in his voice disappearing completely.

They went off into Ruby's room to construct a new weapon, only joy being shared between the two.

* * *

Within the confines of the Beacon Headmasters office sat one man. As such, the man was none other than headmaster Ozpin. With a sigh, he closed his scroll after reviewing camera footage caught from near the city limit. His scroll rang as a message was received. The message read 'What is his condition?' The sender's name reading as Anonymous. He slowly rose from his seat and looked outside from his office window.

"I can only hope that the events that will follow can only end well." Ozpin said.

* * *

 **What did you all think? I tried really hard, and I know there is a lot for me to improve on. Anyways, hope you all had a good holiday, and I look forward to next chapter. Also, I know that the battle scene seems underdone, but those just aren't my specialty, sorry. How will their first day at Beacon go? Will they even survive the trip? Probably yes. And what does Weiss have to do with all of this? Anyways, here is where the Prologue Arc ends. Drake Belladonna,signing off.**


	5. Chapter 5: A New Beacon on the Horizon

**And so it begins. Enjoy the chapter everyone. And please save possible complaints for the end. Thank you.**

 _The Day we've been waiting for has finally arrived._

 _ **The day when this bet finally ends?**_

 _No. The day when it's time for the new semester at Beacon._

 _ **Oh that? Boring!**_

 _What's up with you?_

 _ **Unlike you, I was never a big fan of Education.**_

 _Really? Even if it's to teach you how not to die in the field, oh former Huntress._

 _ **Yes. Even if it's that, because you still have to put up the boring history lessons.**_

 _You never change, do you?_

 _ **In the fourteen years we've known each other, your just now learning that?**_

 _I told you not that up!_

 ** _That's right! That's the day y-_**

 _Say one more word, and you won't wake up til next Semester._

 **Geez. Fine.**

 _Still though, my main concern is for those three._

 _ **I understand why you watch those three so intently. A mother has to protect those she holds dear.**_

* * *

 **2 weeks after Chapter IV**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Drake's attempt at his life and much of the tension had calmed down. Between the three of them, it had seemed as though the event had never even occured. Over the course of the two weeks however, the creation of Drake's mechashift weapon had gone underway, and was fortunately done within a matter of one week and four days. The remaining three were spent with him developing a new fighting to utilize his weapons and... 'unique' semblance.

It was on their last day to goof off, the day before it was time to depart for Beacon that Drake trained the hardest. It was in the back yard of the Rose/Xiao Long houshold that Drake was found tearing up a training dummy. In his right hand, he wielded a black metal Katana, while in his left hand, he held what appeared to be a blue and red metallic sheath for the aforementioned weapon. He leaped back from the training dummy and examined the work he'd inflicted upon it. It's torso had been torn apart from repeated horizontal slashes, while the arms were littered by upward or downard slash's. The legs and lower half of the torso were litered with ten's upon twenties of bullet holes and the head had one stab wound through the forehead. Drake had taken on light panting from overexerting himself on the practice target.

"That wasn't a bad job Drake. You are definitely ready for Beacon." Ruby complimented.

"Thanks, but I don't deserve a whole lot of the credit. I know I have to thank you for helping me make Cresalia." Drake replied.

"Aw. Oh. It was nothing." Ruby gained a bright blush from his compliment.

"It certainly was no nothing. You've given me a great gift, and I will cherish it forever."

"Stop it, your making me blush."

"But it's true. You helped me get into Beacon, you helped me make a weapon, and you brought me back when I tried to leave."

At this point, Ruby was redder than her own Cloak. It seemed rather farfetched that her face could turn such a shade of scarlet, but she just was. Drake simply smirked at her for an unbeknownst reason.

"I can never thank you enough." Drake said.

"O-oh st-st-stop it." Ruby stuttered out.

"Please stop it." A more mature female voice rang out.

"Oh. Hello Yang."

"Look, are you done training? Cause its getting late."

"Yeah."

Drake sheathed his weapon and reattached it to his back before proceeding over to the blonde. He couldn't help but smile at how much his life had changed within a matter of two weeks. First it was meeting Yang and Ruby, then Yang stopping him from killing himself, then the creation his weapon, Cresalia Shade. All in all, he was thankful for all that he'd been given.

"Uh Drake? You okay there?" Yang asked, snapping her fingers in his ear.

Apparently, he'd fallen into a reminescent daze and it was showing. He quickly snapped from his daze and blushed profusely.

"Sorry bout that. Got caught up in remembering these past two weeks." Drake apologized.

"Really? I thought that bruise on your chest would be a good enough reminder." Yang pointed out.

"It was the one time Yang. Im not exactly used to knocking."

"Yeah well, you better fall into the habit of it. Next time you walk in on me changing, you might have some broken ribs."

"Understood."

"Yang! Stop threating him. You'll scare him off." Ruby whined.

"Come on Rubes, if he'd walked in on you, you would've tried to cut him in half!" Yang argued back.

"Wha!? Would not!"

"Would so!"

"Would not!"

"Would so!"

Their sisterly fight turned physical when Ruby decided to pounce onto Yang and the two started to get into a cat fight. They fell to the ground started to tumble around a punch's were thrown and hair was pulled. Drake chuckled quietly as he watched the siblings fight. It was just how the two got along that confused the boy. How even when they fought, it was just for fun and they would forgive one another once it was over. It warmed his heart, and usually brought a smile to his face.

*"If only I had a sister. Maybe then I would understand these two." Drake thought.*

The sisters fought for a good ten minutes before they started to calm down. The two grinned at one another and got off of each other. They looked at each other and smiled. Between the two of them, words were unecessary as they could understand each other just by looks alone.

"You win the round Yang Xiao Long, but you'll never win the war!" Ruby proclaimed.

"Bring it on! I'll take you on anytime, and any place Ruby Rose!" Yang claimed in response.

The sisters heard a light chuckle from the sidelines which caught their attention. They saw Drake quietly laughing at their antics. He standing there with a hand on his side and huge grin spreading from cheek to cheek. The girls had to wonder about what he found so funny.

"What's so funny Drake?" Yang asked.

"Oh nothing. Just you two." Drake answered.

"What's funny about us?" Ruby asked.

"It's the way you two act. You're both crazy, but in the good kind of way."

"Aww. That's so sweet of you. You deserve a reward." Yang proclaimed.

"Uh, what?"

Rather than answering him, Yang walked up to the Faunus and pulled him into a bone breaking hug. Although, she was actually smothering him with her rather sizeable, ahem, 'assets'. Drake gasped for breath as he was held captive between the large pillow like objects. Ruby started blushing madly and dashed over to try and free him from her sisters so called reward.

"Yang, stop it! He can't breath!" Ruby said as she tried to pull him away from her.

"Just a few more seconds sis." Yang said.

"But he's suffocating!"

Yang groaned. "Fine."

She released the trapped boy from her death hug, who immediately moved away while taking in deep breaths.

"Keep me away from those monsters!" Drake shouted in fear.

"Aww. That's sweet, but I don't think they're that big." Yang said, taking it as a compliment.

"Just... please don't do that again."

"Fine." Yang grumbled.

"You okay Drake?" Ruby asked.

"I was almost suffocated by a pair of boobs, but yeah."

"Okay. Let's go in. Also, you need a shower."

"Alright."

The two sisters and Faunus went in, the Faunus going straight to the shower. Yang and Ruby sat down in the Living Room and relaxed. Ruby looked over at Yang, who was laying sprawled out on the love seat.

"Hey Yang. Haven't you wondered about what's with Drake?" Ruby inquired.

"Of course. That boy has a lot of secrets, and I've been really curious to find out some of them." The blonde replied.

"Well, he'll tell us when he's ready, but in the mean time, we should really give him something nice."

"Like what? You already made a weapon for him."

"He kinda needs a new change of clothes." Ruby brought up.

"Good point. Run into my room, grab some of the money off my dresser, and run down the clothing store. Use your semblance if you need." Yang ordered.

"Got it."

Ruby rushed off in a red blur down the hallway and straight out the door at lightning speed. Yang layed her head in her hands as she layed back down and closed her lilac colored eyes. She mingled amongst her many thoughts, trying to pass the time as peacefully as possible, which was quite strange for her. Usually she was all about and looking for excitment, but her conversation from two weeks ago still bugged her.

 _"Nobody would miss me." Drake said in a dead monotonous tone._

 _"That's a damn Lie! I would miss you! Ruby would miss you!" Yang shouted back._

 _"You may say that, but that's exactly what she said!"_

Yang frowned as she remembered the argument. She was still wondering who had betrayed Drake to such an extent. Whoever it was, Yang made it her mission to find out who. She opened her eyes and gazed up at the white ceiling.

"I promise. I'm gonna protect you, no matter what." Yang said firmly.

"Protect who?" Ruby's voice asked.

Yang shrieked in surprise and sprung into a sitting position. Ruby had already returned and was holding a bag of clothes in her right hand. Yang's chest expanded and deflated as she breathed heavily. Ruby held her tilted slightly in surprise.

"N-no one. Ruby." Yang answered.

"You sure? You sounded pretty sure of yourself." The red head asked.

"Yeah. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

Yang didn't answer and only looked down, hanging her head in sadness. Ruby was still confused, but her need to cheer up her sister overtook her curiosity for what was upsetting her. She set down the clothing bag, plopped down next Yang and pulled her into a comforting hug. Yang buried her head into her half sisters shoulder and slowly wrapped her arms around her.

"It's okay Yang. I promise that it's okay." Ruby said softly into Yang's ear.

"It's just..." Yang tried to say.

"It's fine sis. I'm here for you."

"Th-thank You. Thank you Ruby."

Yang rose up and looked into Ruby's silver eyes. The sight of her cheerful younger sister brought her to smile. Yang dried her tears and returned her sisters hug. Ruby smiled in turn, knowing that as long Yang was happy, she would be happy.

"Better?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. Thanks Ruby." Yang thanked.

"Don't mention it. What're sisters for?"

"Your my favorite sisters."

"I'm your only sister!"

"You don't know about Yu."

"What!?"

"Just kidding." Yang said, grinning cheekily.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, slightly mad.

Her anger quickly subsided and the two of them shared a laugh. Ruby and Yang smiled and and sighed happily. The sound of the shower turning off caught the girls attention, letting them know Drake was done cleaning himself up. The bathroom door came open and out walked Drake clad in only a towel.

"Uh, Drake? I got you some clothes." Ruby said, blushing madly.

"Thanks." Drake said, taking the clothes and rushing back to the bathroom.

"That was something, huh?" Yang said, not even phazed at how he looked.

"We will never talk about it."

Yang nodded and the two relaxed again. Around five minutes passed and Drake emerged from the washroom. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt with the depiction of a beowolf, but in a more cute, smaller, and chibi like form, and a pair of solid black shorts reaching past his knees. It wasn't really much to look at, but was still comfy enough to be used as nighttime apparel.

"Not a bad choice of clothes. Thanks Rubes." Drake said.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you." Ruby said.

"But it was my idea." Yang added.

"Yeah well, I was the one who agreed it was a good idea."

"I payed for it."

"Well still, thank you for getting this for me. Now if you don't mind, I would like to lay down." Drake said.

"Okay." Ruby said.

"Meaning, could you get off the couch?"

"You can sleep with me tonight." Yang offered, a smirk adorning her face.

"I dunno..." He said in a questioning tone.

"No." Ruby said, flat out.

"But-"

"No. I think we all need to go to bed."

"Fine."

Ruby and Yang quickly left the room, Yang pouting because of her sister not letting her have a sleeping buddy. With them gone, nothing further could distract Drake from getting some needed rest. He lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling, holding his hands behind his head. He looked past it and began to lose himself in his thoughts.

 _"Mom. I hope your proud of me now. I've actually made some friends." Drake thought._

With that, Drake finally fell from consciousness and had fallen asleep. The house quickly grew into utter silence, not a single person awake. It was almost as though it were abandoned.

* * *

The morning that followed was filled with much joy and dismay. The day of departure had arrived and it was time for training huntsman and huntresses to go to an official combat school. The airships were scheduled to leave at eleven in the morning. The air docks were flooded with people, families saying bye to their family members, and the usual faunus looking to escape to a place where they would be accepted. Though there were thousands of people proceeding to leave, one group in particular was just arriving, and it was almost time to leave.

"Bye dad." Yang said.

She was talking to man who appeared somewhat considerably taller than Yang, but still bore the same blonde hair and lilac eyes as her. He wore a tan shirt with a brown leather vest over top, brown cargo shorts with a brown belt, and black shoes. His accessories were a bandana on his left air, brown leather gloves, and a leather spaulder covering his left shoulder. Though it was concealed, he did have a tatoo as well.

"Bye sweetheart. Im gonna miss you and Ruby." The man said, leaning down to hug his blonde daughter.

"We'll miss you too dad, and dont worry. I'll write to you." Ruby assured.

"Thats very sweet of you dear."

He removed himself from Yang and hugged his younger daughter, who wrapped her arms around him as well. She closed her eyes and smiled with great joy. She moved back, but still held onto her fathers arms and looked at him. He sported an expression of both proudness and sadness.

"Dad. I promise that I'm gonna make you proud of me." Ruby said.

"Ruby." He started. "I'm already proud of you. Your going to Beacon two years early, so of course I'm proud of that. Your gonna do great things."

"Hey!" Yang said, upset that she was left out.

"You know I'm proud of you too Yang."

"Yeah, but I like to to hear it still."

"Yep. You definitely take after me." Her father said.

"Thanks daddy. I'll visit you when we can."

"Yeah! Me too!" Yang shouted gleefully.

"Okay girls. Its about time for you to go. Oh, and make sure to tell old man Ozpin that Taiyang said hey."

"We will." The sisters said in sync.

As the sisters walked off, Taiyang let out a sigh and frowned. Seeing his two little girls was a bit sad for him to bare, but he knew it was for the better. They were growing up to be the new protectors of the world. He closed his eyes for a moment a smiled before walking away.

"Make me proud girls." He muttered to himself.

* * *

 **And there we go. I know it wasnt the best, but i tried. Not to mention, didnt explain much. My excuse is that this one is to convey the plot. Also, HOLY SHIT, EPISODE 11! VELVETS WEAPON, QROW SCYTHE, HALF ROBOT IRONWOOD! YANG! To be honest, i don't look forward to next week. Anyways, next time they arrive at Beacon and some crazy stuff happens. Reviews are appreciated and looked at, but arent required. Later all.**


	6. Chapter 6: Beacon School Blues

**Well, that final episode absolutely ruined me. Enjoy the chapter regardless.**

 ** _Do you remember our trip on the airship?_**

 _ **Unfortunately**._

 _Wait a moment. Didn't you throw up on the ship?_

 _ **Don't remind me Rose girl.**_

 _Hehe, sorry. At least you made some friends despite that... Incident._

 _ **O** **h please. The only friends I had were you and your team.**_

 _That's not entirely true. You made friends with a Nikos._

 _ **I'** m **pretty sure he just felt sorry for me.**_

 _Didn't you notice that he had a thing for you?_

 _ **Of course, but I was more worried about school than romance.**_

 _You really are a social outcast. But then again, I was socially awkward_

 _Y **eah.**_

* * *

The view of the city of Vale was quite a sight to behold in its own rights. The natural and man-made landmarks were a something that drew most people's attentions when they visiting or just lazing about their day. Now, imagine being able to see them all at once. That was the sight of which Ruby and Yang beheld from the airship. Being able their home from this new perspective brought mixed joy and sadness to their hearts.

"You can see Signal from here." Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah. Those were definitely the good days." Yang responded.

"I guess we really aren't too far from home after all."

"Beacon's our new home now baby sis."

"Yang! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"You are to me." Yang said, giving hearty chuckle with an arm wrapped around Ruby.

Ruby blushed madly and lightly puffed her rosy red cheeks in an attempt to look angry. Instead, Yang only laughed harder and fell to the ground while clutching her side. Ruby walked away with her 'angry' face still on in an attempt to get away from the rambunctious blonde she called a sister. Yang's laughs died down as she finally noticed that Ruby had walked away.

"Come on Ruby! I was just joking!" She called out amongst the crowd of bodies.

People gave her odd looks as to why she was screaming out to some girl they could only figure out was called Ruby. Yang got up off the floor and began her search for her younger sister, which sounds easy if it's to find a 15 year old girl wearing a cloak, but it proved to not be so. As Yang searched, she passed by some White haired, blue eyed girl yelling at another girl, but ignored them as she continued to push through crowds of people to find her sister.

"Ruby! Ruby please come back!" Yang yelled in vain.

When no one yelled back, Yang sighed from frustration and resumed the search. It took her around 10 minutes of searching through an airship of around 700 people to finally locate the red cloaked girl she's been searching for. Ruby was busy speaking with their friend Drake, and had yet to notice Yang's presence. So, she snuck behind Ruby and grabbed her on a full body hug when she least suspected it. Ruby flailed about to break herself from Yang's hold, but her attempts were in vain.

"Ruby, I looked all over the airship for you!" Yang said, keeping Ruby restrained.

"Let me go!" She screamed, kicking wildly in the air.

"Not until you tell me why you ran from me."

"I don't want you treating me like a little kid anymore!"

"What do you mean!?" Yang screamed back, tightening her hold on her sister.

"I'm not just a little girl anymore Yang. I'm here, attending Beacon with you. And even though I'm younger than everyone else, I've shown that I can take care of myself, so please." Ruby pleaded.

"R-Ruby..." Yang stammered out, her hold slackening some.

"Yang?"

"Your right." Yang released her younger sister. "I guess that I got a bit overprotective. I just don't want to see anything bad happen to you. I must be a horrible sister."

Ruby turned around and glared at Yang in the eye. Yang tried to look away from her, but couldn't escape Ruby's piercing gaze. A near quite literal spark went off in Ruby's Silver eyed gaze. Ruby quickly reached forward and flicked Yang in the forehead, leaving a red mark.

"Huh? What the heck Ruby!?" Yang said, rubbing the mark.

"Thats for thinking you're not a good sister. Yang, your a wonderful sister to me, and I get that you wanna do whatever you can to protect me, but sometimes you just gotta let me grow up. Okay?" Ruby said, holding her sisters left hand.

"Okay. Your right. Sorry bout that."

"It's okay."

As the two sisters had reconciled, their Fox faunus friend had walked off elsewhere on the airship. Unlike the normal days of walking about Vale, no one gave him any negative remarks about his Faunus herritage. The lack of negativity brought a small smile to his face, which was something he needed very much. While distracted in a state of blissful joy, he had unintentionally walked straight into someone else. The two people fell back in recoil and hit the floor.

"Ow." They said in unison, each rubbing their sore spot.

"Hey. I'm sorry bout that, I just wasn't watching where I was going." The Faunus boy apologized.

"It's fine, just be more cautious next time." The person said, sounding female.

Drake looked up from his pained daze to see who he'd knocked over. The person was a girl with long flowing black hair topped by a bow. She had on a plain white button up shirt with the last button undone, revealing a small portion of her midriff. Over top the shirt, she wore a small black overshirt with one button clasping it together. She also wore a black skirt sporting a flame like symbol, black stockings on each leg, and black shoes. At her side was a book titled Crescendo, and upon seeing it, something clicked in Drake's mind.

 _"Wait a second... Crescendo? Could she have been the girl from the day?" Drake thought._

"Uh, hey... I noticed that book you've got. Did you get it two weeks ago?"

"Um, yes actually. How'd you know?" The girl asked.

"I was actually at the store that day oddly enough."

"Oh. Okay."

A silence ensued between the two.

"This is awkward." The girl said, starting to stand to get up.

"Very. So what's your name?" Drake asked, getting up as well.

"Blake."

"Blake? That name sounds familiar."

"That's strange, cause I don't know you."

"Same."

The airship rocked slightly, but noticeably, as it docked at one the Beacon ports. This indication caused several students to stumble, and very few to actually fall. Th ship came to a halt, and the sound of a mechanicle whirring filled the air around where the people had first boarded as the doors now opened. People fled off of the ship in haste, the first being a blonde haired boy who darted straight for the nearest trashcan.

"Well, it looks like we're here. See you around." Blake said, walking off and waving back.

"Yeah. See ya." Drake said back, his voice trailing off quietly amongst the mass of people.

"Yeah. See ya Blake."

With that, Blake left Drake standing there by himself as people passed him by. He simply stood there, as though petrified in a statue like state.

 _"I guess that it's a start. One possible friend gained. Joy leveled up." Drake thought to himself_.

He quickly broke from his statue stance and made a mad dash towards the school.

* * *

Ruby and Yang, as well as the hundreds of other students, approached the school. Midway, the two half sisters stopped to admire the schools appearance.

"Wow..." They said in awe and unison, admiring the look of their new home.

"Amazing." Ruby said.

"You said it." Yang replied.

Ruby then turned her attention to the people and did the one this she could think of. Fangirl over any and all weapons she saw the people carry. She quiet literally became starry eyed at the sight and quickly grew giddy with excitement

"Oh my gosh! Sis! That girl has a collapsible staff! And that guy has a fire sword!" Ruby said as she slowly walked towards the people in a stalker like manner.

She would've had her wish to observe the weapons, were it not for Yang pulling her back by the hood of her cloak. Ruby whined from the tugging pain and reached towards the person she was planning to interrogate.

"Geez, calm down Ruby. They're just weapons." Yang explained.

"Just weapons!? They're a part of us! They're an extension of ourselves! They're just so cool." Ruby pouted, her arms dropping to her side.

"If you like them so much, why don't you fawn over your own weapon? You like it, don't you?"

"Of course I love Crescent Rose. I just like seeing new weapons. It's like meeting new people, but better!"

"Still, you should go out and meet new people."

"Why would I need friends when I have you?"

"Well..." A group of people appeared next to and behind Yang; "Actually my friends are here now, so see ya!" Yang said quickly before dashing off.

Ruby visibly spun in place as Yang and her 'friends' rushed past her.

"Wait a second, where are you going!? Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Do we have dorms?" Ruby asked, despite her sister having already ran out of earshot. "I don't know what I'm doing."

Ruby sighed sadly and fell back as she stopped spinning. Unfortunately, she ended up falling onto another person's luggage, sending the various suitcases all over the crosswalk, as well as the contents of one. Ruby groaned in frustration as one bad thing after another happened to her.

"What are you doing!?" A loud, shrill feminine voice shrieked.

"Huh? W-what do you mean?" Ruby said, sitting up and looking for the owner of the voice.

Looking to her side, she found the girl who'd been screeching at her. The girl had snow white hair, and bright blue eyes with a single scar across her left eye.

"Explain to me why your trying to go through my stuff!" She yelled, making the sleeve her white jacket and skirt sway a little.

"W-wait! That's not it at all!" Ruby tried to reason.

"Oh then what is it?"

"Y-you see, my sister just ran off with her friends and I got dizzy cause she rushed by me and made me spin. Then I fell back into your stuff and I'm really really sorry." The red cloaked girl rambled out, getting up.

"Likely story."

"It's not a story, its true!"

"Sure, and I'm the leader of the White Fang. Look, next time you fall into people's luggage, be careful, you could've set off my dust." The White girl explained.

"Dust?"

"Are you that dense you dolt?!" She said, grabbing up one of the fallen cases.

 _"What's a dolt?" Ruby thought to herself._

"You know, Dust! Fire, lightning, Energy! Is any of this sinking in?!"

The White girl had shook a vial full of red substance in Ruby's face during the explanation. Ruby had inhaled the red dust and started to feel something coming on. Like a feeling of pressure. Once it hit the breaking point, she sneezed, resulting in an explosion accompanied by electricity, ice and fire. The explosion caused the blue eyed girl to accidentally toss the vial elsewhere on the crosswalk.

"This is exactly what I was talking about! Just what are you even doing here?! Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The White haired girl yelled.

"I-I'm sorry princess." Ruby stammered.

"It's heiress actually." Another voice corrected.

Both Ruby and the blue eyed girl turned to see who'd said what they'd heard. They saw the same girl with a black bow that Drake had spoke with earlie, but neither girl knew her name; holding the red dust bottle.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." She said.

"Finally, some well deserved recognition." The girl now known Weiss said smuggly.

"The same company known for its controversial labor motives."

"Wh-what!? How dare-" Weiss stammered angrily.

She walked up to the Amber eyed girl and examined her closely. The girl looked back and narrowed her own eyes in response. Weiss snatched the dust from Blake's hand and stormed off angrily. She was followed by two black suited servants who gathered up her suitcases and followed her with haste.

"Thank you for your help there." Ruby greeted.

"It was nothing." Blake said dryly.

"Oh. Well my name is R-"

Ruby failed to finish her sentence due to the girl walking away from her. Ruby pouted and fell to her knees in sadness.

"Welcome to Beacon..." She mumbled to herself sadly.

The sound of someone's panting fell upon her deaf ears in her sad state. The person walked up behind her and rested their hand on her shoulder, trying to catch their breath. Ruby looked up and noticed the person who was using her as a spot to rest for a moment. She noticed the person's blonde hair and bright blue eyes, as well as the fact that the person was male. Further examination let her notice his black jacket with white torso and shoulder armor as well as plain blue jeans.

"Hey. I'm Jaune." The boy said, offering Ruby a hand up.

"Ruby." She replied, letting him pull her to her feet. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

* * *

 **And there you have it. Sorry if it wasn't exactly a good finisher, but I ran out of ideas. Just a quick heads up, the next two chapters will mostly be fillers rather than plot heavy. Anyways, Volume 3 was rather... Eventful. But still, the Finale screwed me over so bad that I screamed til my voice broke. I'm not even joking. Regardless, hopefully volume 4 will be less depressing, and hopefully Ruby and Jaune don't hook up. Sorry if you ship them, but I personally do not. Anyways, hope you all leave a favorite and follow and review's are appreciated, but not needed. Til next time.**


	7. Chapter 7:Shining Beacon

**I saw the Deadpool movie and loved it. All of you should see it if you are older than 12. Enjoy this chapter.**

 _Looks like things are going well for them_

 _ **Granted that is true, I wouldn't quiet let your guard down yet.**_

 _Why is that?_

 _ **An Arc and a Nikos have entered the game.**_

 _Oh. Well I still believe that the end result of all this will remain the same._

 _ **Y** **ou have a point. Maybe they will succeed where we failed.**_

 _Yeah, though you still haven't told me the role that Fox Faunus plays._

 ** _Right. I suppose I will tell you, but not while others are watching._**

 _What does that mean?_

 ** _You'll find out sweetheart._**

* * *

"I'm telling you, motion sickness is a bigger problem than most people believe." Jaune said, as he and Ruby walked side by side.

After their run in at the crosswalk, the two managed to hit it off as friends almost instantly. Jaune explained to Ruby about his horrible case of motion sickness, by which Ruby was grossed out by. The two of them just started to talk about random stuff and in turn started walking around and exploring their new school/home. Eventually, the walk had lead them to a sort of courtyard area where not many people were, presumably due to most of them needing to gather in another area for orientation.

"I'm sorry, but vomit boy was the first impression I got." Ruby replied.

"Oh yeah? What if I called you crater face?"

"That explosion was not my fault."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"Uh... So. I've got this." Ruby said, pulling forth her weapon and activating its scythe form.

"Whoa." Jaune said, leaping back in surprise. "Is that a scythe?!"

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." Ruby explained.

"What?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oh."

"So, what do you have?" The red cloaked girl asked, her curiosity about her friends weapon peaked.

"Oh. Well, I've got a sword." Jaune said, pulling a sword from his side.

"Ooh."

"And a shield." He grabbed the sword sheath and slung it on his arm before it expanded into a shield with two overlapping crest emblems.

"It's also a scabbard?" Ruby asked.

"Y-yeah. So when I get tired of lugging it around, I can just, y'know, put it away."

"But doesn't it weigh the same still?"

"Yeah it does." Jaune said, defeated in their conversation and hanging his head in sadness.

"Well, I still think it's nice."

"Thanks. It's a hand me down from my father."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom. Though, I did go a little overboard in making Crescent Rose." She said, collapsing said weapon back into its compact form.

"Wait, you made that?" Jaune asked in disbelief, putting away his own weapon.

"Of course. All students at Signal make their own weapons."

"Oh... So do you know where we're going?"

"I thought you knew." Ruby told.

"Well I was just following you." The blonde boy informed.

* * *

Elsewhere, a girl with bright red hair similar in shade to Ruby's cloak and bright green eyes explored the schools campus, seeing what more there was to see there. To her, the school was greatly different from the sights she had grown up seeing at the school Sanctum on the continent Mistral. The girl walked solemnly by blooming trees and friendly students while exploring. Eventually, her exploration lead her to a sort of garden like area, which appeared and sounded abandoned at the moment. Being a person of curiosity, she decided to examine the flowers closer and smiled at the sight.

"It's not every day you see a garden as beautiful as this one." A Male voice said.

The girl turned and saw a Fox faunus boy looking at her from the gardens main gate. He had a grin plastered on his face and a strange lonelyness sense from his aura. The red headed girl stood from her crouched position and simply stared him in the eyes. Solid green pierced those oddly combined green and Amber ones. The wind blew by the two slowly, their clothing fluttering calmly against the currents.

"I believe introductions are in order. My name is Pyrrha." The girl greeted.

"My name is Drake." The Fox boy greeted back.

"Its nice to meet you."

"Feelings mutual."

The two stopped talking and simply looked over the others form. Drake scanned over her bronze and golden armorings while Pyrrha overlooked his black and blue hooded coat and red shirt. Where he saw a brown miniskirt and red cape, she noticed black pants and a red blue belt. The noticeable pieces that drew their steeled gazes were Pyrrha's tiara and Drake's scarf.

"Your look... Your not from Vale, are you?" Drake asked, walking forward.

"No. I came from Mystral." Pyrrha answered, also walking forward.

"What made you choose Beacon?"

"I thought it was the right choice. Almost like I was drawn to it."

"Interesting. You seem rather combat capable."

"Graduated at the top of my class, not to brag."

The two met in the middle of the garden, face to face. Drake was only about an inch or two taller than Pyrrha, but she still had to look up a bit to see him. Pyrrha looked into his odd colored eyes and he stared back into her pure green ones. While staring, they each noticed how the other was reacting. Pyrrha had a small grin and wasn't laughing at Drake, so he smiled back.

"You're not freaked out about my eyes?" Drake questioned, his Fox ears twitching a little.

"Well, they are quite unusual, but not exactly disturbing." Pyrrha answered.

"I'm pretty sure that's a contradiction."

"What I mean is that they don't seem all that strange. Anyways, my name is Pyrrha."

"Drake. Got it memorized?"

"Yeah." Pyrrha said with a giggle.

Pyrrha smiled at the Fox faunus and a small grin slowly formed on his face. He reached forward, offering Pyrrha his hand. She took it and the two shook, solidifying their friendship.

"Would all first year students please report to the auditorium. Again, all first first year students report to the auditorium." Glynda announced through the intercom.

"Oh. Looks like we're are needed elsewhere." Pyrrha pointed out. "Well, it was nice meeting you D-"

Pyrrha was stopped mid sentence from Drake taking off and out of the garden. She shrugged it off and headed for the auditorium herself.

* * *

Later in the auditorium, a vast majority of the students had filed in, but there were still a few walking, two such being Ruby and Jaune. They looked around for somewhere to stand and luckily for Ruby, she quickly spotted her sister.

"Ruby! I saved you a spot!" Yang called out.

"Oh, that's my sister. Gotta go Jaune." Ruby said, running off to join her sister.

"Great. Where am I gonna find another girl like her?" Jaune mumbled to himself.

While Jaune walked off, Ruby met up with her sister. Yang had a huge grin on her face with an attitude to match.

"So little sis, how's your first day going?" Yang asked, pulling Ruby into a strong, but not suffocating, hug.

"It was... Fine." Ruby answered, looking away a bit.

"Come on. Tell big sis the truth."

"Fine. After you left, I met with this crabby girl who's luggage I tripped over. Then she started waving dust in my face and I exploded."

"Sheesh, it's only been half a day and you already had a melt down?" The blonde questioned, releasing the rose girl.

"I mean that I literally exploded."

"Are you messing with me?" She said in a cheeky tone.

"I mean it! It was that dust the crabby girl waved in my face, then she started yelling at me and i just wanted her to stop." Ruby said, getting flustered.

"You!" A familiar voice shouted from behind Ruby.

"Oh god, not again!" Ruby screamed in surprise, leaping into her sisters arms.

"You should be glad you weren't blown off the cliff!" Weiss screeched, waving a finger in her face.

"You really exploded." Yang said blatantly

"I swear Weiss, it was an accident. Honest." Ruby tried to explain.

Instead, Weiss responded by thrusting a pamphlet in her face. She then proceeded to explain something about her family company, though Ruby failed to understand her due to Weiss' voice sounding very sped up.

"Uh..." Ruby replied, tilting her head a bit.

"You wanna make it up to me?" Weiss asked.

"Absolutely."

"Read this and never speak to me again."

As the rest of the students entered the room, the voices that filled it instantly ceased. Throughout the whole room, the soft sound of heels clicking against the marble floors could be heard as Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin entered the room. The two teachers proceeded onto the stage and looked out into the crowd.

"I'll... Keep this short." Ozpin said into the microphone on stage. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. "

Upon finishing his speech, the headmaster proceeded off the stage, not even saying a word to Glynda. With him leaving, she walked up to the Mic to give further instruction to the students.

"Later tonight, you will all gather in the ballroom. Your intiation begins tomorrow, so be prepared. You may go about your business." Glynda instructed, moving to follow Ozpin.

The students murmured about themselves before beginning to leave the room. As they began to leave, Yang turned to her sister, only to find that she had disappeared. The Blonde Brawler quickly scanned through the shrinking crowd and looked over at Ruby talking with a familiar Fox faunus they both knew. Yang grinned cheekily and ran up to the two before holding them both in one armed hugs.

"What are you two love Fox's talking about?" Yang asked punnily.

Drake and Ruby immediately blushed at the 'L' word. Ruby opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Drake.

"Okay. First off, Love Fox's? Seriously. And two, I don't love Ruby." Drake said, ducking out of Yang's hug.

"Come on. You know I'm just teasing. Take a joke for once." Yang pouted.

"I can, just not when they're your terrible puns."

"They aren't that bad."

"Uh..." Ruby cut in.

"Oh, what's up Rubes?"

"Yang, can we just go hang out somewhere? I just wanna relax after this."

"Aww, come on Ruby. Where's your sense of Advent-" Yang started to say.

She was cut off by Ruby flashing her with her puppy stare. Yang tried to look away, but could still feel those big, sad looking silver eyes peering into her. With a sigh, Yang released Ruby from the one armed hug, and looked in her eyes.

"Fine. But tomorrow, you better impress me at initiation litle sis." Yang said.

"Yay! Thank you!" Ruby cheered, dropping her guilt stare.

"You know I hate when you give me that stare."

"Yeah, but it still works. Now let's go relax."

With that, the two sisters headed out to relax elsewhere on campus. With them departed, few people still lingered in the auditorium. One such being Drake, who simply walked towards one of the exits, not even giving a single murmur or word. Another person being Pyrrha, who was lost in her own thoughts, though this time is was more about her anticipations of the year than worry about Drake.

 _"Well, I'm here now. I hope Mother and Sister are proud of me." Pyrrha thought before walking off._

* * *

Later on in the night, students were settling down in the ballroom, as per instructed. Many of the boys were horsing around and wrestling before calming while a few girls watched them and giggled at their antics. However, Ruby was busy, laying on her belly on her sleeping bag, wearing rose panjama bottoms and a cute beowolf shirt and sleep mask. She was busy writing in a journal of sorts before Yang flopped down next her, also in her PJ's.

"It's like we're having a big slumber party!" Yang said excitedly.

"I'm pretty sure dad wouldn't approve of the boys." Ruby pointed out, half lidding her eyes a moment.

"I know I would." Yang purred, eyeing the wrestling shirtless boys before Jaune walked by in footie pajamas. Yang groaned before noticing Ruby was writing and asked "Whats the journal for?"

"Oh, I was gonna send it back to Signal telling my friends all about Beacon."

"Aww, that's so adorable little sis."

Ruby replied with a pillow to Yang's face "Shut up! I didn't get to bring any friends so it's strange not knowing anyone."

"You have Jaune, and he seems nice. There you go, already one friend. And then there's Drake. Two friends already."

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend, and we both met Drake out of school so he doesn't count. So it's back to zero on the friend percentage."

"There is no such thing as negative friends. You just made one friend and one enemy." Yang pointed out, sitting back up.

Ruby sighed complacently, still a bit upset. Yang hated seeing her sister that way, so she crawled over and brought the Rose girl into a hug. Ruby was surprised, but quickly wrapped her arms around Yang, appreciating the familial gesture.

"See Rubes? You've always got someone here for you." The blonde said softly.

"Thanks sis." Ruby thanked, smiling.

"Besides, with how well you wield your 'sweetheart', I'm people will just be lining up to be your friend."

Ruby growled and quickly grabbed a dog pillow and pelted Yang with it, making her fall on her back for effect. Ruby saw a light spark from the corner of her eye and turned to see the black haired girl from earlier with a book in hand and a candlelabra at her side. Ruby tried to recall a name, but came up blank. Yang moved the dog pillow and also started looking at the black bowed girl.

"You know her?" Yang asked.

"Sorta, she helped me earlier." Ruby replied.

"Well lets go introduce ourselves." Yang sprung up and grabbed Ruby's hand, pulling her up and dragging her towards the girl.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

The girl looked up from her book to notice two things. One, the same black and red haired girl from earlier being dragged over. Two, a mysterious blonde girl with a smile that said 'bring it on!'. Her Amber eyes became fixated on the two as they walked to her.

"Hello!" Yang greeted with a sing-song voice. "I believe you two have met each other?"

"Aren't you the girl who exploded?" The Amber eyed girl asked of Ruby.

"Yeah. My name's Ruby. B-but you can call me crater- actually you can just call me Ruby." Ruby greeted nervously.

"What are you doing?" Yang whisper-yelled.

"I dunno help me!" Ruby asked back.

"So, what's your name?"

"Blake." The girl said.

"I'm Yang! I like your bow."

"Thanks." Blake replied, taking a slight irritated tone as she wanted to be left to her book.

"They go great with your..."

"Uh?"

"Anyway, whacha reading?" Ruby interjected.

"Huh? Oh. It's about a man with two souls vying for control."

"Ah. The classic novel of Dr. Sorano and Mr. Forre. Quite the read." A familiar voice intervened.

All three girls turned to see the all too familiar Drake. He was wearing the pajamas that Ruby and Yang had got for him. He smiled at the three girls and winked with his amber eye, leaving his blue eye open.

"Drake." The three girls exclaimed, inexplicably at the same time. They then eyed each other strangely as through they had just been copycated.

"I see you all missed me." He said smuggly, approaching the girls.

"No!" They said in unison again.

"Whats with all the noise!?" A loud shrill voice rang out.

"Huh? Oh hello Weiss." Ruby greeted.

"Of course you would be the one making all that noise."

"Whats your problem with my sister?" Yang intervened.

"Problem? The problem is the fact that she's being very inconsiderate of how I feel."

"Well maybe it's like that because your such an Ice Bit-" Yang started.

She was stopped from finishing her 'colorful' sentence by Blake thankfully blowing out the candleabra she was using for reading light. With the room cloaked in darkness, the girls groaned and dropped their argument, grudgingly going to bed.

* * *

 **A/N: And finished. Sorry, I wanted to post on Monday, but I got sidetracked by a Birthday Party, and Devil May Cry 4. Anyways, I should apologize if the chapter seemed too... Stock, too canonic and not very creative. Regardless, next chapter goes up on either Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. And again, it may seem too Canon related due to laziness and lack of creativity. Also, I just made up the two names for Blake's Book. See you all next time.**


	8. Chapter 8: First Step

**The Initiation begins, and several events may change the outcome of the teams. Enjoy**

* * *

 _Ah. The Initiation Ceremony._

 _ **That's right. It changes each year at Beacon, right?**_

 _Not quite. The objective is typically find the relic, and report back to the cliff top._

 _ **Oh right. Wait, didn't we get-**_

 _Launched off the cliff? Yeah. But it was fun._

 _ **Wasn't there one guy that screamed like a girl?**_

 _Yeah. I can faintly remember his name._

 _ **Wait, wasn't his name Jericho Arc?**_

 _That's it! Oh man could he scream._

 _I **know, right? But, he did turn out alright. I guess.**_

 _Yeah. But no one could beat my team._

 _ **Yeah yeah.**_

 _Still worried about Drake?_

 ** _Obviously. That boy doesn't fully understand what's going on._**

* * *

The sky above the Emerald Forest was particularly clear on this day. For today, it was time for the first year students of Beacon to begin the process of going through the initiation test. The test began within thirty minutes, and the majority of the first years were busy preparing in the locker room. Within the locker room, Yang was giving Ruby a last minute pep talk.

"So, you ready for this little sis?" Yang asked.

"Yep. No more awkwardness or small talk. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do all the talking." Ruby said, cuddling her weapon affectionately.

"Well, don't forget that your not the only one going through initiation Ruby. If you're gonna grow up, you'll need to get out there and meet new people."

Ruby groaned in frustration. "You sound like dad! First of all, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And second, I don't need people to grow up. I drink milk."

"But what about teams? What will you do when we come to that?"

"I guess I'll aim to be on a team with someone I know."

Yang could hear that her voice was full of uncertainty. She knew she had to try and say something to cheer her up, but at the same time, was conflicted with the feeling of needing her sister to grow up. She grabbed some of her hair and started playing with it.

"Maybe you should Join. Someone else's team?" Yang suggested, she herself nervously fidgeting around.

"My dear sister! Are you saying you don't want to be on my team?" Ruby said in an accusing manner, waving a finger in Yang's face.

"O-oh n-no! I'm just saying. Maybe you need help breaking out of your shell?"

"W-what!? I don't need to break out of my shell. That's just-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune said as he walked by, unintentionally finishing her sentence. "There's no way that I put my gear in locker 636. I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?" He whined, walking off in search of his gear.

"So Pyrrha, have you thought about who's team you''ll want to be on? I'm sure everyone would want to be on a team with someone as strong, knowledgeable, and kind as you." Weiss asked.

"Hmm. Well, I was just gonna let the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha replied, adjusting her arm guards.

"I was thinking that maybe we can be on a team together."

"Well, I appreciate the offer, but we will have to see how the initiation turn out."

"That's great!"

" _This is perfect! The Smartest girl partnered with the Strongest. Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now; we'll be popular, we'll be celebrities, we'll get perfect grades! Nothing can stop us now!" Weiss thought maniacally._

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Jaune bragged, cutting into their conversation.

"Ugh, you again?" Weiss said in disgust.

"Nice to meet you Jaune." Pyrrha tried to cut in, but was pushed aside.

"Yeah yeah. So Weiss, I couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Weiss said, holding her head in her palm.

"Don't worry, there's no need to be embarrassed. So, I've been hear rumors about teams and figured that-" Jaune tried to say.

"Stop. I... 'Appreciate' your offer, but no." Weiss said, rejecting him.

"Oh. Th-that's okay." Jaune replied, hanging his head in shame.

"Don't listen to her Jaune, I'd love to be on your team." The Amazoness comforted.

"Aw, thank you whoever you are."

"Do you seriously not know who she is?" Weiss questioned in surprise.

"Not in slightest. Nope." Jaune said cluelessly.

"This is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Hello again." Pyrrha greeted again.

"She graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum."

"Never heard of it."

"She's won the Mistral tournament four time in a row. A new record." The Heiress bragged.

"The what?"

Weiss flailed her arms in frustration while saying "She on the front of every pumpkin Pete's marshmallow cereal box!"

Jaune gasped in both surprise and apparent excitement.

"That was you?! They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah. It was pretty great, unfortunately the cereal isn't very good for you." Pyrrha explained.

"So after hearing all of this, do you think you even deserve to be on a team with her?" Weiss asked of Jaune.

"I-I guess not. Sorry." Jaune replied, hanging his head in shame.

"Actually. I think you'd make a great leader." Pyrrha said to cheer him up.

"Doh stop it."

"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior shouldn't be condoned."

* * *

Elsewhere in the Locker rooms, Drake and Blake were busy conversing while preparing themselves for the initiation. As Blake loaded an ammo clip into her sword's gun compartment and Drake practiced a few swings with his Sword and Sheath, they had started a conversation about why they were drawn to enroll in Beacon.

"So Blake, why did you come to Beacon?" Drake asked.

"I came here because I want to make a difference in how the Faunus are treated." Blake replied stoically.

"That's admirable. I'm only here cause of Ozpin extending an invitation to me. I honestly don't know if it's the right choice to have accepted though."

"What's making you doubt yourself now?"

"Its just..." He sighed. "I don't know what I need to do with my life. Can I be honest with you?"

"Uh... Sure. I guess." She replied meekly, putting her sword away and facing towards him.

"I can't remember very much of my life. I mean I can still remember my months freelancing around Vale, but further from that. Nothing."

"I had no idea. Drake, I don't know what to say."

Drake sighed in frustration and sheathed his Sword and placed it on his back, where it firmly locked in place. He stood before Blake with a statue like stance, his eyes closed. When they opened, they were revealed as one being bright Blue and the other being Amber as usual, but the strange part was that the pupils changed shape. Both pupils of his eyes had become a Dash mark. Blake took a step back out of surprise.

"Drake. Your eyes." Blake said, a shocked expression forming on her face.

"Yeah. Everyone is always put off by them." Drake said, a dark expression glazing over him.

"It's not that. They changed. Is it your semblance?"

"Yes. When I ready my semblance, my pupils always shift. That's what they did when Yang and I fought."

"Oh. Um..." Blake stammered, trying to find another subject.

"You know, it's weird how our weapons are almost identical." The Faunus boy brought up.

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah."

"Yeah. They're both katana's, and the sheath is also a weapon. However, mine's a bit different."

"How so?" A sense of wonder became present in Blake's expression.

"For one, the sword and Sheath can combine to be a sniper rifle. And point two, my weapons can take different styles."

"Wow, that's pretty in-" Blake started to say.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation. Again, would all first years report to Beacon cliff for initiation." Glynda said over the intercom.

The conversation between Drake and Blake dropped immediately, and Blake was about to talk with Drake more, but he'd already run off to the cliffs. However, Blake caught sight of a black and white Fox tail disappearing through one of the doorways. Blake let out a sigh before returning to her usual stoic expression. She began making her way for the cliffs, but still had a strange tinge of deja vu haunt her.

 _Why do I feel like I've done this before? Blake thought_

She shook her thoughts off and proceeded towards the cliffs, as she was instructed to.

* * *

Within a short matter of minutes, a small group of twelve initiates were gathered at the place of meeting. Within the small group were Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake, Drake, Pyrrha, Jaune, and seven other initiates they weren't acquainted with, all of which were standing on mysterious metal devices. Before the group stood the headmaster, Ozpin, and fellow teacher Glynda Goodwitch.

"You are all gathered here today because you have been training for years to become Warriors. Today, your knowledge and skill shall be put to the test in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin said.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about being asssigned teams. Allow us to end your confusion. You will be given teammates. Today." Glynda informed.

"What no." Ruby mumbled.

"These teammates will be with you for the duration of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to partnered with someone you can work well with." Ozpin said.

"Oooooh no." Ruby mumbled to herself.

"That being said, first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What!" The reapette screamed in shock in fear.

Several of the students gave her a strange look from her random outburst. Yang let out an exasperated sigh, hoping for her sisters luck in being partnered to be good. The group's attention returned to the headmaster as he continued to address them.

"After partnering up, you are to head towards the temple hidden deep within the northern end of the forest. Along the way, you may encounter Grimm. Do not hesitate to destroy anything and everything in your path. Fail to do so, and death is all you will meet." The headmaster ordered.

Jaune gulped nervously upon hearing the part about dying.

"You will be examined during this test and graded appropriately. However, our instructors will not intervene. Once you find the temple, you and your partner must take one of the artifacts hidden within and return here. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah. Uhm sir?" Jaune asked.

"Good. Take your positions." Ozpin said, ignoring Jaune.

The students readied themselves in their own positions. A Orange haired, green eyed girl got into a modified crouch position. The boy next her, clad in a green jacket with yellow trimmings pulled forth two similarly colored guns and held one with an arm across crossed over his chest and the other reaching behind him. The only person who wasn't in a position was Jaune.

"Uh, sir? I've uh, got a question?" Jaune asked.

Weiss was flung into the air because of her pedestal.

"So this 'landing strategy' thing? Are you dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling." The monotonous man answered.

The next person to be launched was a blonde boy with a Mohawk.

"Oh. I see. Did you, like, hand out parachutes or something?"

Next was the Orange haired girl, followed by the boy that was to the right of her.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

As he finished speaking, some guy in armor with a bird emblem was launched.

"Uh huh. Yeah."

Yang looked to her sister and winked as she donned a pair of aviator shades and was flung into the air. Ruby grinned happily while retaining her steely look before she herself launching.

"What exactly is a landing strategyyyyyyy!" Jaune tried to question, but he was cut off by being launched.

Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch slowly turned to see their new initiates fly through the air. Well, most of them. Jaune kinda just tumbled through the air while screaming. Glynda sighed while Ozpin grinned slightly.

 _"Like father like son. Make Jericho proud Jaune." Ozpin thought._

* * *

 **And I'm done. Look, I'm gonna be honest, this wasn't all that good. I honestly tried, but couldn't write around it. This was mostly a filler for the next chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed and see y'all next time. Reviews aren't neccessary, but are appreciated.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Emerald Forest

**I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, cause now it's time to get down to the gritty stuff. Enjoy.**

* * *

 _I hope they'll be okay._

 _ **Quit your worrying. They'll be just fine.**_

 _What makes you so sure of that?_

 _ **Let's see. They're an adventure seeking blonde, a hyperactive reaper, a Schnee girl, a mysterious girl with something to hide and a Faunus with the potential to wipe out an army of Grimm on his own.**_

 _Is Drake really that strong?_

 _ **Only in feral mode.**_

 _Feral mode?_

 _ **Yeah. He is a special type of Faunus.**_

 _Special type? You mean he's..._

 _ **Yep. Exactly**_

* * *

The atmosphere within the Emerald Forest was never in a state of calm. It was almost always in state of danger due to the massive amounts of Grimm that would congregate within its green foliage. Though these conditions sounded like good reason to have the forest barricaded off, they were actually the necessities for testing the huntsman and huntresses to be. That being said, the first challenge was actually making it into the forest without dying. Though it seemed like a non-existent issue, the one fact about it was that no one told you that you would be falling into the forest.

The sky was filled with both serene sights and the screams of people. Regardless, even with the sound of screaming, the animals that lived in the forest simply continued to move about their nature. That is, until the people actually started landing. The woodland creatures scattered as the people begun imploring their own landing strategies. Weiss used what had appeared to be a glyph to catch the inertia force she had accumulated from the fall and landed softly. Ruby shot off a volley of rounds from her Crescent Rose to slow her descent, but when that didn't work, she shifted it to scythe mode and managed to catch onto a tree branch. Being one of the first few to land, approximately half of them having landed before her, she bolted off in the first direction she saw and started calling out.

"Yang! Yang!" Ruby called while running. "Gotta find her. Gotta find her." She mumbled.

 _"Okay Ruby, get a hold of yourself. If you can't find Yang, then there's gotta be someone to partner with. Maybe Jaune? He's nice, and a little funny. Though I don't think he'd be the best in a fight." She thought, imagining Jaune being attacked by beowolfs._

 _"What about Blake? She so mysterious, so intriguing. Plus she likes books. But... I probably wouldn't be able to talk with her much."_

"I just gotta-" Ruby started, but was cut off when she had ran into something or someone.

The two of them fell back on the ground. Ruby clutched her head in pain, as well as the person she had ran to. She whined quietly and opened an eye, only to see the one person she hadn't expected.

"Watch where your running next time you..." Weiss started.

She failed to finish her sentence as she noticed it had been Ruby she'd ran into. Ruby gave her a meek smile and Weiss remained silent. She quickly got up, dusted herself off, and walked away in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Where are you going!?" Ruby called out before mumbling "I thought we were a team."

As Weiss walked away, she was slowed by a patch of thorn bushes. She mumbled ow and other complaints a few times as the thorns clipped her exposed legs. Once she exited the thorny patch, she heard grunting emanating from one of the trees in front of her. She looked up to see Jaune trying to pry what looked like a spear from his clothing, which hung him on the tree. He noticed her and meekly smiled. Weiss rolled her eyes and walked back to Ruby.

"By no means does this make us friends." Weiss said, grabbing Ruby's hood and dragging her off.

"You came back!" Ruby cheered, happy that the heiress returned.

As the two girls walked off, Jaune was still struggling to get down from the tree. He was a bit sad that they didn't try to help him.

"Please help..." Jaune mumbled sadly.

"A little strung up there?" A familiar voice asked.

"Hehe. Yeah. Mind helping me down Pyrrha?"

The red head smiled and begun to get him down.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yang was slowly walking through the forest, searching for her partner. She looked around and called out to anyone within earshot. She was caught off by a rustling in a nearby bush, so she decided to check it out.

"Ruby?" Yang said, parting it and almost immediately saying "Nope."

An Ursa lunged out at her from the bush, luckily Yang leaped back at the right moment and avoided any damage. Even while leaping back, Yang primed her weapon. The two golden bracelets on her wrists soon became arm bracers with a short muzzle locking just behind her knuckles. She pulled one arm back, cocking the bracer back like one would do with with a pistol hammer, releasing a bright red shell. And when she punched forward, an orange flare released from the bracers gun and flew towards the Ursa. It was blown back with ease and back into the brush.

"Thats it? Man that was too easy." Yang said, saddened by the lack of challenge.

A loud roar came forth and two Beowolfs pounced out at her. Yang sidestepped the first, but barely backstepped away from the second.

"Ha! You mi..." She stopped when she saw that a single strand of her golden hair had been cut. "You..."

The two Beo's looked at one another confused before looking back at Yang. An explosive of fire erupted behind Yang, sparked from nothing more than her rage. Her eyes were bloody red and she was about to snap.

"Monsters!" She roared.

She blasted forward and released a flurry of powerful punches on the smaller of the two Grimm. She quickly ended its life with a final punch to its skull, breaking the white marrow and launching it. She turned to the other creature and readied to attack the stagnant creature. Just as she was about to launch herself at it, it fell forward with bladed pistol stuck in its back. It's owner drew their weapon back and was revealed to be none other than Blake.

"I could've taken him." Yang bragged.

Blake merely smiled in response and the two of them, now partners, went off to find the forest temple.

* * *

Everyone had landed nearly ten minutes into the examination, but everyone was going at their own pace into finding partners and the temple. Some were going slower at it than others, such as Drake. The black and blue themed Fox faunus continuously walked through the forest, a finger constantly on the trigger of Cresalia in its sniper state. Due to his Faunus heritage, his eyes had a sharper sight range than most others, so he would notice someone before they noticed him. As he scanned through the surrounding bushes, he felt very wary of his surroundings.

"I can't fail. Not when I've come this far."

A sudden snap of a noise from a bush behind him alerted him, forcing his Fox ears to perk up. He spun around, gun trained on the bush, awaiting whatever was within. With a blue eye peering at its target, his green eye shifted to a spiral for a flash of a second, but he hadn't noticed. The bush shook again and out popped the least expected thing; a girl.

"Huh? Who are you?" Drake questioned.

The girl had Dark blue, shoulder length hair cut in a short bob. She had ice blue eyes accentuated by pale white skin that almost glowed. She wore a pale blue shirt that hugged close to her well endowed chest, and covered by a blue jacket that covered her shirt for the most part. Her lower body was covered by a knee length blue skirt bearing a crystal like pattern and white shoes with blades on the bottom and back, basically Ice Skates.

"Oh. Hello. What is your name?" She greeted.

Her voice was soft, calm, and sounded like that of a fourteen year olds.

"Uh. Um, it's Drake. And yours is?" He answered, holstering his sniper.

"My name is Shiva Nulfrost. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I-I didn't n-notice you at the start." Drake stuttered, a bright blush on his face.

"Your blushing? Is something embarrassing? Am I embarrassing you?"

"O-of course not. I-I guess this makes us partners."

"Part-ners? I'd love to be yours."

The air between the two was thick as they stared at one another. It was also cold, almost as if brought on by Shiva's prescience. A cold wind blew by the two, making Drake's scarf flutter by the wind.

"Should we... Get going?" Drake questioned, trying to break the tension.

"Of course. Please. Lead the way." The cold girl replied.

* * *

 **And I am back. Again! Sorry for the wait, those of you reading, but I was hit with major writers block. As for the next update, I won't make any promises, but I will try before next month's end. Also, just cause Drake has a partner doesn't mean its automatically an OC team, so don't get any ideas. Anyways, I've been dealing with some personal business, helping an author friend, and the rage of a best friend. Hope you enjoyed, and tune in next time to swe how the exam unfurls. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	10. Chapter 10: New Encounters

**Before we roll into chapter ten, I would like to thank all who have read up to this point, and hope you enjoy the future chapters. Now, let's get started.**

* * *

 _What's this?_

 ** _Huh? Is something wrong?_**

 _A new player has entered the game._

 ** _New player? Will they be any trouble?_**

 _Possibly. I'll keep an eye on them._

 _ **Good. We can't allow anyone to interfere.**_

 _I know. This is something we can't afford to fail within._

 ** _What about Drake? Is he..._**

 _Not yet. But I have a feeling that it will awaken sooner than anticipated._

 _ **Dammit. Well, we still need to keep a watch on this.**_

 _You know better than I that things will more than likely turn out fine._

 ** _You better be right._**

* * *

The headmaster is charged with overseeing the initiation of new students into the huntsman academy of each kingdom. Though they watched, they strictly forbade any intervention from those outside of the set parameters. While each academy had its own quirks and events, Beacon academy was by far the most crazy. Each and every year, the initiates always managed to bring chaotic welcomes over the top. This year would be no exception to the tradition.

Professor Ozpin watched the video feed of the student's performance. Needless to say, by far he'd been impressed by what he's seen. Ruby Rose had partnered with Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna with Yang Xiao Long, and so forth into the others. Though, the one that caught his eye most was the meeting of Drake Vermillion with Shiva Nulfrost.

 _That girl was not apart of the initiation. Just what are you planning. He thought to himself._

"Professor Ozpin?" Glynda asked, curiosity plastered on her face.

"Huh? Oh, what is it Glynda?"

"I was just meaning to inform you that the final pairing of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie have been formed."

"I see." He said, looking over the video feed playing on her scroll.

"Is something wrong sir? You seem a little off."

"No Glynda, everything is fine."

Ozpin turned his back to her, facing towards the cliff once more. He returned his attention to his scroll and the video feed he'd been watching over previously. On his scroll was Ruby sitting on the ground and Weiss walking one direction, and then turning to walk the other way.

* * *

"It's this way." Weiss proclaimed, walking one way.

Ruby sighed quietly and picked up a leaf before dropping it absentmindedly.

"I mean this way." Weiss said, walking in the other direction.

Ruby gasped, surprising the heiress, as a new idea had come to mind. She sprung up from the ground, grabbed Weiss' hand and quickly bolted off in what direction she believed was north. Weiss called out at Ruby to release her or to explain, but the young red reapette simply kept dragging her.

"Ruby Rose! I demand that you release me this instant!" Weiss ordered, trying to pry Ruby's hand off of her wrist.

"Don't worry Weissy, I have a great idea." Ruby replied with a cute smile.

 _'Weissy? Did she just- whatever! Just stay focused.' Weiss thought to herself._

* * *

With Yang and Blake, the two hadn't made much conversation. Well, conversation wouldn't exactly be the right word. It would be more fitting to say Yang was asking questions and Blake replied with usually a nod or a quiet yes or no. Yang was slowly beginning to lose interest in asking Blake questions.

' _Geez, won't she talk more with me? I just wanna get to know my new teammate.' Yang thought._

"So... You wanna be a huntress?" Yang asked, a stupid grin plastered on her face.

"If I didn't want to be, then why would I be here?" Blake replied, an emotionless expression taking hold.

"O-okay."

Yang fell quiet, kind of ashamed she couldn't find a topic she couldn't relate to with Blake. With the lack of topic, silence fell between the two of them. They went on for roughly five minutes in silence before Blake held arm in front of Yang, halting the blonde next to her. Blake reached for her katana, slowly removing it from its sheath.

"What is it Blake?" Yang asked.

"Someone, or something is nearby." Blake said.

Yang readied her own weapon and awaited whatever was in the dense foliage. Blake gave a small smile from Yang's trust, despite the two only knowing one another for a few hours. She kept her gaze continuously locked in front her, keeping her wariness high. From the forest stepped forth the ast person she expected to meet.

"Drake?" Blake asked, sheathing her weapon.

"Blake?" Drake asked back, dropping his own weapon.

"Who would've guessed we'd meet here?"

"I know. And I see you have a partner."

"Same to you." She leered over his shoulder and Shiva a kind look, to which she smiled back to.

"To think, you and Yang. This is gonna be a crazy year."

Blake was about to respond when a loud roar sounded from nearby. Everybody turned to see several Beowolfs emerging from the trees and bushes. They readied their weapons, but where halted from advancing by Shiva, who had stepped forward.

"Shiva? What are you doing?" Drake questioned, unaware of why his partner was doing such actions.

"I won't allow anyone to hurt my friends. That's what we are, right?" Shiva asked.

"Y-yeah, but I'll be f-"

"That wasn't a request. I wanna show you what I'm capable of."

Drake wanted to respond, but Shiva's stoic demeanor said more than enough for him to understand.

"I... Okay. Show me your capabilities." The Fox faunus said, smiling.

Shiva smiled in return and faced her opponents. Three Beowolfs, each of Beta appearance, due to lack of armaments. She grinned and readied to fight off the foe. One of the Beo's pounced at her, attempting to take her down with one claw swipe. The Nulfrost girl anticipated this action and quickly retaliated with a quick side step, followed up with high kick. The Beowolf was launched into a tree, a large gash in its side with icicles forming in its wound. It tried to get up, but was pinned to the tree with a blade piercing through its throat.

As Shiva dug her right skate into its neck, the other two beowolves moved in to swipe at her with her attention on their fallen breathren. Shiva spun around to knock their claws away and simultaneously decapitate the wounded Grimm. She stopped to face the disorientated the Beo's and moved in to attack the right one. It shook its head as it regained its bearings, but was quickly knocked away by a swift dropkick. With the Ice Skater girl on the ground, the remaining Beo swiped down at her, successfully hitting her left leg. She hissed in pain as its claws broke skin and quickly started kicking at its claw with her unmarred leg.

"Shiva!" Drake called out, moving to join the fight, but getting stopped by Blake.

"She said she wants to prove herself, so let her show you." Blake proclaimed, a stoic expression in her eyes.

"But-"

"No buts! Let the girl show us, it's kind of interesting." The Busty Blonde said, a huge grin on her face.

"Fine."

Drake stepped back and decided to watch as Shiva began to retaliate against the beast. She swung her leg at the beasts claw like one would a woodcutters axe, and actually cut the appendage off. The Beowolf clung to in stump of an arm, howling in pain as black blood spilled from the wound. Shiva sprung back onto her feet and grinned at the beast as her wounds closed themselves. It looked up at her from the pain it felt and watched as a bright blue ball formed in her hand. Shiva threw the ball at the creature and a bright flash consumed the area, blinding everyone but herself. The light was even strong enough to blind the camera the headmaster was observing them through.

"Gah! It's so... Bright!" Blake yelled out, covering her eyes with her arm.

The light quickly dispelled, but left a small impact on the surrounding surveyors. As their vision returned, their eyes widened as they saw what Shiva's projectile had done. Before them, and on Ozpin's scroll, was a Beowolf completely frozen within an icy shell.

"Now. Shatter!" Shiva shouted.

The ice broke once she was silenced, leaving no trace of the creature it held. Yang gasped in awe at the sight, clearly impressed. Blake smiled, impressed as well, but to a lesser extent. Drake, however, couldn't even contain his excitement, not even slightly.

"That was awesome! Amazing! Spectacular!" He shouted loudly, running up to Shiva and hugging her.

"It was nothing. Really." Shiva said, modestly.

"It wasn't nothing. What was that Ice thing?"

"Oh, that. Well, my semblance is ice, but it's dangerous for me to use."

"How so?" Drake questioned, tilting his head slightly.

"The ice I make is linked to my aura. If I make something big, it uses a lot of my aura."

"Like my swords then?"

"Huh?" Shiva asked, blinking twice in confusion.

"Nevermind."

* * *

After Pyrrha had gotten Jaune down from the tree she herself had been responsible for pinning him to, the two headed off in the direction they assumed was North. Rather than just being quiet through the trip, the two had sstarted to talk about one another. Jaune talked about his family, about how his dad was a Huntsman, and his grandfather was a Huntsman and so on. Of course, Pyrrha had her own family to speak of, but she was mostly focused on one specific relative.

"My little sister, Aria, always strove to be like me." Pyrrha said, brushing off some blocking branches.

"Is she your only sibling?" Jaune asked, following diligently.

"Yes, but she is the best one I could ever ask for."

"Wow. I have seven sisters actually."

"W-well then. That's... Nice?" The amazoness stifled, surprised at his statement.

"Y-yeah. Things got a little hwctic around the house."

"I would understand why. Aria was like an angel in human form."

"She sounds like Rachel." Jaune said with a smile as he lifted a branch for them to pass by.

"I'm sure that she and Aria would get along."

Jaune was about to respond, but was stopped when an opening from the forest came into sight and revealed a cave etched into the cliffside wall. With curiosity inside, he grabbed Pyrrha's hand, which made her blush, and dragged her to the inside of the cave. Since the cave lacked any natural lighting, Jaune made a torch from an old piece of wood he picked up and some old firemaking skills. As they walked on in the cave, it seemed as though it had gone on forever. Even Pyrrha had become a bit wary of their situation.

"Uh, Jaune. I don't think we're not supposed to be in here." Pyrrha said.

"I... I think you may be r-" Jaune had started to say, but was stopped when he saw a big glowing object. "The relic!"

"Huh?" Pyrrha looked at what had drawn Jaune's attention and was immediately filled with a sense of dread. "Um, Jaune?"

"Hang on Pyrrha, I just gotta grab this relic."

Jaune tried to grab the object, but it suddenly moved back from his reach. Not at all surprised by it, he tried again but was met with the same result. He leapt at the object and hung onto it.

"Ah ha! Gotcha!" Jaune said, prideful in succeeding with their objective.

However, the pride was short lived as the 'relic' lifted him up into the air. From the darkness that enveloped them, save for the torch, three sets of bright red orbs appeared beneath Jaune. A strange assortment of markings also lit up in the black, raising the fear from Pyrrha and Jaune. Pyrrha made a break for the exit and Jaune screamed in fear.

* * *

 **There you have it. We got to see what Shiva was capable of and even a bit of her semblance, which is Ice. I wanna give a shout out to Ser Nexi, writer of Tales of Celia. His/her story is about a character who was created from someone's semblance, and I find that it's not too bad. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	11. Chapter 11: Coming Together

**First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of JNPR scenes, I am just a little... Not used to writing it. I don't hate them, I am just not good at involving them. Let's begin. Shall we?**

 _I-incredible._

 ** _What?_**

 _They... They passed the exam._

 ** _No way! They did it!?_**

 _Yeah. Did you actually doubt them?_

 ** _What!? Of course not! I'm just a little proud of them is all._**

 _Sure. But did you see how they passed?_

 ** _No. Pray tell, what did they do?_**

 _You'll see._

 ** _Your no fun_.**

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Ruby called out to Weiss.

"I can't hear anything because of your crazy idea!" Weiss said, barely audible over the wind speed blowing by them.

"Crazy in a good way?"

"In a bad way! In a very bad way!"

"Then why don't you just jump!" Ruby said, closing her eyes tight.

"What!? Are you crazy!?"

She heard no response and saw that Ruby had already jumped from the position she was at. Weiss' expression became a scowl of annoyance at the Red cloaked girls actions.

"Oh you insufferable little-"

* * *

Around one thousand feet below from where Ruby and Weiss were, the partners of Yang and Blake teamed up with Drake and Shiva and chose to travel together to find the shrine. Though they encountered resistance along the way, as Professor Ozpin said they would, the four dispatched the Grimm with relative ease. As time wore on, and when it seemed unlikely for them to find the relic temple, they actually stumbled across it by total accident. Resting in the shrine was what appeared to be a set of large chess pieces. Several missing pieces were the set of black rooks, and a white paladin. The two sets of partners walked into the shrine and started examining the pieces.

"How about a cute pony?" Yang said, grabbing the white knight piece.

"Sure." Blake said.

"Bishop sound okay?" Drake asked.

"That sounds nice." Shiva replied with a smile.

With their pieces, the two teams readied to return back to the professor, but were interrupted by sudden screaming. The four of them looked up and saw Ruby falling rapidly towards the ground just in front of the shrine. When it looked like she was gonna hit the ground, she was actually hit by something, or someone, that sent her into one of the trees. The situation only became crazier when an Ursa emerged from the forest, but what was weird about it was that a hyperactive orange haired girl was actually riding on its back.

"Aww, it's broken." She complained.

She got up and started looking all over the creature she'd been previously riding. Not long after she got up, a boy in a green vest came into view, out of breath from chasing her. He held his knees as he slumped over, trying to catch his breath.

"Nora... Please. Never do that again." The Boy said.

He looked up and over to where his partner was at, and saw she had dashed off elsewhere. She next appeared behind the first group that had been there prior to her arrival. Shiva released a shriek in surprise and leaped away from the hyperactive girl. Yang had a questionable look on her face, as well as Blake, but Drake was most surprised of all of them. He felt a shiver run up his spine from a sudden shocking feeling. Looking back, he saw-

"Um, crazy lady?" He asked calmly.

"It's Nora, and yes?" She replied.

"Right, Nora, you mind telling me why your holding my tail?"

"Oh. Well, it looked so fluffy and I wanted to touch and pet it, and just-"

"Please. Don't touch my tail." The Faunus asked, though with a calm tone, his intentions sounded louder.

"R-right."

She released his tail, which swayed back and forth slowly and almost hypnotically. Nora quickly backed away from the silent, but furious Fox faunus and started zooming around again, as if looking for something. She then stopped in the temple shrine and grabbed one of the two white queen pieces and rose it to the air oddly. She then started to zoom around again, but stopping to pose with the chess piece every few minutes.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She said joyfully in a sing-song voice.

"Nora!" Her partner called out.

"Coming Ren!" She said, tilting her head to let the piece fall into her hand.

The entire groups attention was suddenly drawn to a loud birds caw as they looked into the sky, eyes widening upon the sight of what was within the airspace above them. In the air was an enormous black bird, otherwise known as a Nevermore Grimm, but what was most surprising was seeing Weiss clinging to its claw for dear life.

"Weiss!" Jaune called out, hanging onto a branch from the tree he landed in.

"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed, getting up from her disorientation of hitting the tree and leaping from it as if the event had never occurred.

"Ruby!" Yang said happily, moving in to hug her sister.

"Yang!"

"Nora!" The Orange haired girl exclaimed, getting between the sisters and surprising them.

And just when it seemed their situation couldn't get any crazier, in came Pyrrha being chased by a huge scorpion type Grimm. As she ran around in the clearing, trying to avoid the Grimms pincers and stinger, the rest of the group simply stared on at the two events occurring before the seven of them.

"Did she run all the way here with a desthstalker on her tail?" Blake asked coily, her expression neutral.

Unlike her, her partner was ready to burst in anger.

"I can't take it anymore! Can we go just five seconds without something crazy going on!?" Yang exploded, her eyes turning red and her breathing heavily to calm back down.

Thankfully for her, five seconds passed and she quickly calmed back down. Another scream sounded out and everyone looked up to see Weiss barely hanging onto the Nevermore's claw.

"How could you just leave me!?" Weiss screamed out at Ruby.

"I told her to jump." Ruby told the group.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said stoically.

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling." Ren, Nora's partner, noted.

As Weiss fell from the great height, Jaune finally got up from his confused position in the tree and noticed to falling heiress. He ran along the tree branch he was previously entangled to and leaped out to catch Weiss. With his arms outstretched, Weiss just seemingly floated into his arms and looked into her saviors eyes. He gave a cheeky grin and noticed that they hadn't been falling, somehow defying physics. His grin quickly shifted to a frown and then surprise as he and Weiss suddenly plummeted to the ground rapidly. He landed first, on his chest, and Weiss landed on top of him, causing him pain.

"My hero." Weiss said sarstically.

"My back." Jaune groaned in pain, still face down on the ground.

Through all the shenanigans that had just unfolded, Pyrrha was still managing to dodge the Deathstalkers attacks. Unfortunately for her though, she ended up getting caught by one of its pincers. She was knocked down in front of the group and lay on her side for a moment to recover.

"Great, now we can all die together!" Yang said.

"Not if I can help it." Ruby said before bolting towards the Deathstalker with her speed semblance.

"Ruby wait!"

Unfortunately, Ruby didn't stop, or at the very least didn't hear her. She quickly pulled forth her weapon and unfurled it into scythe mode. Using its gun function, she used the force of her bullets to propel forward even quicker than before. As she rapidly approached the scorpion Grimm, she was more than sure she could've easily killed the beast. Against her better judgement, the creature swiped at her and knocked her to the ground. She quickly recovered and looked up to see the Nevermore attacking with its feathers being used as projectiles. Ruby quickly sheathed her weapon and tried to run, but got pinned in place by a father that managed to catch her cloak.

Ruby worked to unwedge her cloak, but it proved futile as the Deathstalker closed in and readied to end her with its stinger.

"Ruby!" Yang called out before a White blur sped past her.

Ruby shut her eyes tight a threw her arms in front of herself to try to protect from the incoming stinger. She heard a strange noise and felt no pain after a few moments had passed.

"You are such a child." A familiar voice sounded.

Ruby opened her eye a bit to see what happened. Her mouth went agape when she saw that the tail was frozen within ice mere inches from her chest. She looked over and was even more shocked to see who her savior was.

"Weiss?" She asked.

"And dimwitted. And hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style."

"I'm sorry." Ruby mumbled quietly.

"But I suppose if your could improve, then I'll be a little... Nicer."

Ruby was about to reply, but the ear-bleeding screech of the Nevermore cut through the air. The group looked at the creature as it flew high in the air, keeping a close eye on them. The ice entraping the giant scorpion started to slowly crack as it tried to break free.

"Uh, guys? That thing is circling back!" He said, alerting everyone to the Nevermore's flight pattern. "What do we do now?"

"Our objective is right there." Weiss said, motioning to the shrine.

"She's right. Our mission was to collect the relic and return with them." Ruby said, sounding somewhat like a leader would.

Ruby and Jaune went over to the pedestals holding the pieces and each grabbed their own. Ruby grabbed the other White Knight, while Jaune grabbed the White Queen. The two then started leading their friends away from the two giant Grimm. Yang stopped for a moment and smiled, which was noticed by Blake.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing. Im just happy to see that Ruby is growing up." Yang answered before the two of them resuming their following.

Drake lagged behind the rest of the group oddly. Though no one could exactly tell something was wrong, pain surged through him with each heartbeat. It hurt him greatly, but even with the pain, he was still managing alright to keep up with the group. In the back of his mind, he could only wonder about one thing.

 _"What the hell is going on? Why is ny heart hurting." Drake thought to himself._

"Hey, are you okay?" Shiva's voice sounded.

"Huh? Shiva? When did you-"

"When you hadn't caught up, I got worried."

"I'm fine. Let's just keep going." He said, picking up his running pace.

"O-okay."

The group had been running for roughly seven minutes and they had managed to stumble upon some sort of ruin and a decrepit bridge. Ahead of them was a Cliffside, but so was the Nevermore, which hsd landed at the top of the cliff. Behind them was the deathstalker, which had proved to be quite the persistent creature. With nowhere else to turn, the group of ten knew they had to fight. Those with weapons that had long ranged modes, like Ruby, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha and Nora had chosen to attack the enormous bird while the remainder kept their attention trained on the Scorpion.

The Nevermore shot it feathers at the large group, attempting to scewer them, but only managed to separate them. Ruby took a dive into a roll to dodge while Yang shot down the feathers that came at her. Pyrrha did a handspring back while Nora ran along the treeline, jumping and dodging the feathers before they stopped flying, allowing her and the others to retaliate.

* * *

 **And I will leave that at a cliffhanger. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and can't wait to see you all again to read how the battle unfolds. Anyways, on the side note, I would like to give a shout out to Shadow Nightblade for his new story Feral Faunus. It's a good read, and actually came from an idea I informed him about on the beta version of this story. See you all next time. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	12. Chapter 12: The True Test

**Before we begin, I would like to take note that I mentioned the wrong chess piece. I actually meant the Rook piece and apologize for forgotten the name of the most the pieces. I went back and fixed it, so let's get onto the story.**

* * *

 ** _..._**

 _Whats wrong with you?_

 ** _Just remembering the past. And how much it hurts._**

 _I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad._

 ** _Not that bad? You don't know a damn thing!_**

 _Whoa. Where's this attitude coming from?_

 _ **Do you have an idea what it's like to be forced to give up your child? Do you!?**_

 _In some way... Yes._

 _ **What do you mean?**_

 _One day, I had to do something important and I..._

 _ **I understand. You don't need to say more.**_

 _It still hurts. But I know she'll be okay. I feel it._

 _I **n your small chest?**_

 _Sh-shut up!_

 ** _Hehe, just messing with you._**

* * *

The situation between the ten initiates and the two large Grimm hadn't changed very much from when the Headmaster last checked in on them. As he watched the situation through his scroll, he couldn't help but feel a sort of impending dread upon the area they fought within. Nevertheless, he watched them fight the creatures of darkness vigilantely, hoping to seeing them turn what would be a dire situation into a grand victory. His oddly quiet behavior hadn't gone completely unnoticed by Professor Goodwitch.

"Professor? Is everything alright?" Glynda asked, biting her lip a little.

"Yes Glynda. Everything is just fine. The test is proceeding as it should." Ozpin replied, stoic as ever.

"Are you sure sir? You've barely said a word at all."

"Glynda. Everything is fine."

"Okay..."

Glynds was of course saddened that her associate, and once a friend, wouldn't inform her of the obvious problem at hand, but kept her normal demeanor she had during classes. She returned her own attention back to her scroll and watched over the group of four who retrieved the black bishop pieces. She sighed contemplacently but remained attentive in case of any change in the exam. Ozpin smirked while watching the battle of the students as a change in the tempo happened.

* * *

The battle had picked up once the teens had caught a break from being attacked, taking the opportunity to counterattack. Nora pulled out the gun she'd been carrying and started launching heart topped grenade shells at the Nevermore upon the cliff. Several of the shells did hit the creature, but roughly three of them hit the cliffside and caused some debris to fall. The Nevermore was temporarily downed, but the Deathstalker was still attacking in full force. As it swiped at the group, Pyrrha and Jaune parried with their shields, knocking them back and onto the stone bridge connecting the forest and cliffside. Blake and Rin took the opportunity to spring an attack from behind, leaping onto the creature from its left and right to slash at its eyes, but missed their mark. Thankfully, it's hard bone armor was cracked once Drake swung at it with the Crescendo Zweihander.

"It looks like that did something!" Weiss alerted the others to.

"Yeah, but I can't keep it up!" He said, making his large sword disappear and swapped over to his Sword and Sheath technique.

Weiss grunted quietly to herself, forgetting a strategy she'd been forming. The Nevermore had recovered from the salvo and screeched loudly at the small group. Ruby ran across the stone bridge, Crescent Rose in its gun form and shooting at the black bird, which went mostly unaffected by the shots. The Nevermore flapped its wings and started to ascend the air with intent on ending the group. Blake, Yang, Weiss and Shiva had noticed and moved onto the bridge to try and take on the creature from there. Unfortunately, while they tried to cross, the Nevermore had swooped in to try and devour one of them and only managed to destroy the bridge in the process.

With the bridge collapsed and the five girls now in a freefall, they had to act fast to avoid hitting whatever was beneath the fog beneath the bridge. Blake threw her katana in its bladed pistol form at one of the various columns of the ruins and used the leverage to swing her way back onto stable ground. Weiss used her glyphs along with the falling the debris to launch herself up to a higher altitude. Ruby and Yang took on similar a similar ascent strategy, with Yang using her shotgun gauntlets to launch from the pieces of rubble and Ruby actually running along the falling stone and using her semblance to jump along them. Shiva, however was using her semblance to create ice blocks in midair from which she sort of walljumped from, and it somehow worked.

The five girls managed to ascend a set of closed together columns and stared off at the Nevermore circling above them and their fellow examinees. Back with the group of Pyrrha, Ren, Jaune and Nora, the condition on the Deathstalker encounter hadn't changed too much. A majority of the group was running out of the stamina to fight. Save for Pyrrha and Nora, the remainder were nearly down for the count. The Scorpion hissed loudly as it was ready to end the group. It went to swing at the tired group, but was parried off by Drake's sword, knocking it off guard only for a moment. The Fox Faunus was panting, exhausted from the fighting, and the pain in his chest only made it worse.

*'Damn It! I can't stop here, especially with this thing! I need a new weapon!' He thought, and then that's when it hit him.*

The pain in his chest had left once the thought crossed his mind, and though the others couldnt tell, his green eyes pupil became an x. Jaune noticed the deathstalkers stinger was damaged and handing kind of loosely from its tail. He turned his attention to the cracked armor, where a short barrage of green bullets were fired into from Ren's twin pistols. The creature went unphased by the attack and actually knocked Rin into one of the trees.

"Rin!" Nora yelled, growling that her childhood friend got hurt.

"Pyrrha, take out its stinger!" Jaune commanded.

"Got it!" She replied, throwing her shield at the creature.

Her shield cut straight through the already damaged tail and dropped the deadly stinger into the damaged creatures armor. Pyrrha and Nora locked gazes for a moment and nodded in understanding of how to proceed. The two girls then looked to the fox Faunus, who was now holding an orb of strange light, so they figured it must be something to assist the situation. Nora grinned and zoomed over, picking up the boy, now confused at what was happened, before running back at Pyrrha. She leaped into the air while starting her weapon transformation, which came out to be a large hammer still capable of lobbing out grenade from the head of it. Nora slammed her hammer into Pyrrha's shield before pulling the trigger, launching herself and the somewhat terrified, screaming Fox Faunus, high into the air. At the peak of their ascent, Nora giggled in delight and grabbed Drake's arm before throwing him higher, and letting herself descend. Nora spun in the air and slammed her hammer into the deathstalkers tail stinger, driving it into the creature and killing it.

In the time that it took them to defeat the scorpion, the other five had gone all out on the Nevermore. From atop their spires, they had launched volleys of projectiles ranging from high velocity bullets, to sniping explosive shells, and even ice blasts. With the damage the creature had received before, the shots were affecting it, making it flinch just a bit and even work actively to avoid further shots. It swooped in at the group and managed to catch Yang in between its beak, but that action had only served to hurt it. Not only did Yang manage to hold its beak open with just one hand, she was able to retaliate by Firing explosive shells into its mouth.

"I. Hope. Your. Hungry!" She grunted out with every shot.

Yang quickly leaped from its gaping maw and onto the bridge from a great height, but felt no pain upon landing on stone bridge. The other five girls followed suite with her and landed upon the bridge. The Nevermore had received too much damage from the onslaught it was forced to endure and landed at the cliff base to rest for a moment time. Throughout the battle, Ruby had been figuring out a way to defeat the giant bird and once it was forced to land, the last piece of the plan was there. When Weiss had landed next to her, she was about to tell her the plan, but heard a loud sound come from high in the air, but it didn't sound like a Grimm scream. The attention of everyone, astonishingly also the Nevermore, was drawn to the bright light from the boy who was floating down from the sky slowly. The light shattered suddenly, and in his right hand rested a lance type weapon with the left side adorning a shuriken like cross and the right a tomahawk like design.

"Let the strength of this phantom lance aid you in your fight." Drake said.

He bent his arm back before throwing the weapon at the Black Bird creature. The lance had missed it's main body, only removing part of its right wing. It shrieked loudly in pain, and Ruby quickly tapped back into her focus.

"Weiss, I have a plan, and I need you Yang and Blake to do it." The reapette said.

"Alright then. If you've got something, then lets hear it." Weiss replied with her voice filled with actual joy.

Ruby quickly explained the gist of her ideas to the girls, and while they agreed it was the only way, Weiss pointed out that it was an incredibly dumb idea, but chose to follow it nonetheless. She poised her rapier and quickly rushed towards the Nevermore. Meanwhile, Blake and Yang were setting up their part in the plan. Blake converted her weapon to gun mode and before leaping onto one of the bridge pillars that formed the archway. She quickly flung it at the other half of the arch where Yang was waiting, and thankfully her partner caught it. The two pulled each end of the weapons ribbon, making sure there was no slack in it.

"Great! Now for Weiss to finish her part." Ruby called out, awaiting her chance.

Weiss, the skilled fighter that she was, had little trouble enacting the plan. When she was reaching the bridges edges, she leaped high with help of a glyph before using another in midair and launched herself at the Nevermore, or so it seemed at first. She actually hit just where it's feathered tail met the ground and used Ice Dust to freeze it in place and prevent any escape. The heiress quickly formed another glyph to launch herself back to her teammates before the bird could retaliate. Ruby, the eager 16 year old she was, was ready to go, so she used Crescent Rose to launch herself at the ribbon between the archway, stretching it with her the force she had put into it. When she had been back as far as she could make it go, rather than being launched, she was held in place by three black glyphs that slowly rotated around her. Weiss got back behind her and made her glyphs red in preparation.

"Of course, you of all people would come up with this plan." Weiss said, both impressed and disappointed in the Rose girl.

"Can you make the shot?" Ruby asked with her whole focused locked on the task.

"Can I?"

"Can yo-"

"Of course I can!"

Ruby looked forward and pulled the bolt of her beloved scythe back and readied to deliver the final shot to the Nevermore. Weiss released her glyphs, allowing the makeshift slingshot they'd created to release its tension. However, as if in nothing more than a single split second, Shiva had played an extra part in this fight. Using her ice semblance, she encased the cutting edge of the Scythe in Ice. With nothing holding her back now, Ruby was shot forward with high speed at the Nevermore. To keep the momentum up, she fired off repeated shots from her sniper as she rapidly approached the doomed creature.

"Its over!" Ruby shouted as her Scythe embedded into the Nevermore's neck.

She also stuck to the cliffwall, but would fall were it not for further intervention from her partner. Weiss had formed a glyph beneath Ruby's feet, one that altered one's gravitational force, and used it to keep her grounded into the wall. She then formed an enormous amount of glyphs further up the glyph for Ruby to use. Speaking of the girl, she started to run using her semblance, the Scythe not quite able to cut all the way through the black birds neck, even with an ice modification, so it was dragged up with the girl. All the while, Ruby was screaming loudly, firing off gun shots to once again keep moving faster until she finally reached the top of the cliff and fired off one last shot, launching her high in the air and removing the Nevermore's head. When Ruby landed, she looked back down in silence, the only sound coming off of her was the soft flutter of her cloak with the wind.

"Well... That was a thing." Yang pointed out.

"Yes. It most certainly was." Shiva replied.

"Wait. Where is Drake?" Weiss noticed.

The two groups, except for Ren, who'd fallen unconscious from fatigue, swiftly looked around for the Fox faunus who had helped the battle in their favor. The last place they'd expected to see him was in the air, still somehow floating, but still at a great height. When it seemed he'd just float down, the boy gasped quietly and fell unconscious, falling at a rapid pace. The group of eight gasped and ran to try and cushion his impact.

"I've got this!" Blake called out.

She used her shadow semblance to throw herself into the air. She managed to catch him, but hitting the ground when even rolling to avoid getting hurt, they still got hurt to some extent. She rolled with the unconscious boy in her arms into a tree, where she stopped. The people hs d gathered around to see if they were okay, most of them sporting genuine concern.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Yang asked hastily.

"I think so, but we better get back to the academy as quick as we can." Blake said.

They nodded and headed out toward the cliff where they had began. Ozpin closed the video feed on his scroll and sighed to himself before taking a sip from his coffee mug before facing his fellow professor. In his mind, he was reviewing the footage he'd seen during the fight.

 _'It's highly unusual for a boy to have the Phantom Sword semblance. Just what is he capable of?' Ozpin thought._

"Professor? I was just reviewing that footage and I believe some investigation may be necessary." Glynda asked if him.

"No. Let us just see how these events unfurl my friend."

Glynda sighed and awaited for the group to return to them at the cliff.

* * *

 **Finally done! It took forever to me, cause I gotta write it, but the Emerald Forest arc is finally done. Next time, we dive into the past some. Hope you all enjoyed to this point. Don't forget to favorite or review, because I do actually check those, but the option is your. See you all next time. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	13. Chapter 13: A Lonely Past

**Time to begin the new arc of my story, and I'm as ready as can be. First off, I want to say thanks to all who have read this little idea of mine. This is something I've come to love, and will finish it, hopefully before the year is up. Now enough about me, onto the story.**

* * *

 ** _Looks like they're finally done with that forest._**

 _Thats wonderful. What about Drake?_

 _ **He collapsed, but did he manage to wound the Nevermore for the others to take down**._

 _On his own? How?_

 ** _Somehow managed to forge a Phantom Lance to clip it's wings._**

 _That's amazing! I'm proud of them all!_

 ** _You don't even know half of them. Regardless, are you sure it's not just for Ruby?_**

 _Well, I'm especially proud of her, but I'm also happy to see that Schnee girl succeed._

 ** _Oh, and why is that my friend?_**

 _Her mother and I were close friends._

* * *

With the Nevermore and Deathstalker taken care of, the two team's battles had concluded. Unfortunately though, a new challenge had been presented after the fight. Drake, their Fox faunus friend had landed a crippling blow on the now decapitated Bird Grimm, but had fallen unconscious afterward. As of the moment, he was in a freefall, with the others rushing to save him.

"Ruby, use your semblance!" Yang called out to her younger sister.

"Right!" She replied.

Though she was ready to use it, she was beaten to the punch by Shiva. The girl skated along gracefully and steadily, her ice skates actually creating a mini icicle trail as she moved along quickly. She quickly determined her partners height in her head to find how much time she had before impact. In what would seem like a rash decision, the ice girl implemented her semblance to create an ice monolith like object to propel herself into the air.

"Drake! I won't let you fall!" She screamed out.

The Fox faunus couldn't respond, but she felt he'd heard her. The rest of the group came to a stop and watched as Shiva had successfully caught the boy, but she too was now in a freefall. Though what they hadn't expected, was that Shiva was well prepared for her seemingly bad case in judgement. While still in mid air, the girl started making her own trail of ice beneath her feet, almost like a slide that built as she went along. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but their main concern was still of the Fox faunus, and in only a matter of seconds, both he and Shiva were back on the ground safely.

"That was totally amazing Shiva!" Yang yelled in excitement, ignoring the possibly dire situation.

"Thanks, but we need to get him to a nurse and fast. He's hurt real badly.' Shiva said.

"Right." The group said in unison.

"Hold on. I may have a trick that can help." Weiss said.

"Well if it's something that can save him, then I suggest doing it."

Weiss nodded and place her right hands palm against his chest, blushing a little bit. She closed her eyes and flared her aura up, but only on her hand and begun to focus. The others gasped when they watched the white aura of the heiress spreading onto the Fox Faunus. Only moments later, Weiss was forced to back away, panting for air.

"He's... Okay, for now... But we... Need to move... Quickly." Weiss said in between breaths.

The group nodded and Yang opted to be the one who carried the unconscious Faunus. Then with haste, the group began making their way for the Cliffside to reunite with the headmaster and professor. Drake's body had remained limp while in the blondes arms, although his Fox tail did sway as they rushed him to the academy. While the group was mostly focused on the task at hand, Blake couldn't help but linger in her thoughts.

 _'Why? Why is this happening again? To me no less?' Blake thought._

 **Eight years ago**

Back then, the White Fang was still a peaceful civil rights movement. They employed non violent protest methods in a fruitless attempt at gaining equality. Though some people and places treated the faunus with respect, much of the world still saw them as nothing more than abominations. Out of all of them, the children of faunus had the worst treatment of all.

"Somebody stop that Faunus!" A man yelled out.

With the mistreatment they were forcibly subjected to, many of the orphaned faunus had to resort to theft in order to survive. Even with the White Fang trying it's hardest, sometimes there just wasn't enough food to go around for everyone. Life was especially hard for them, and some would just wish for a way for their life to improve. One such individual was a nine year old girl with black cat ears. She ran as fast as she could from the man chasing her down, clinging tightly onto the bag in her hand.

"You can't run from me you little freak!" The man shouted.

"Please! I need this, just leave me alone!" The young girl yelled back.

The man refused to stop chasing the cat girl, not letting up. The girl let small tears flow forth, as she despised having to steal from stores, but when she had gone little over a week without a meal, she was left with few options. She was running with as much strength she could, but due to her lack of any energy, she was starting to slow until she was soon too tired to continue. Before that happened though, she retreated down an alleyway in hopes of getting rid of the man. She took a brief moment to gather her breath and hope that the man wouldn't find her. She looked over her form, her arm and legs covered by cut marks and dirt, and her hair was a tattered mess with several dirt marks in the dark mass. She was thankful to find that the two furry appendages on top of her head, her cat ears, were completely unharmed. She breathed a sigh of relief and started to rummage through the bag of food she managed to snatch from the store. First thing she pulled out was a shiny red Apple, which she eagerly dug into with great speed.

"You look happy." A sudden, new voice said.

The Cat Faunus looked up with wide eyes and a surprised look on her face. Standing before her was boy who looked around her age, if anything only a year younger. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt, gray shorts, and black shoes. He had soft amber colored eyes, same color as her own. Most notably was the black Fox tail on him, meaning he was a Faunus.

"What do you want?" The cat girl spat, he voice sounding like venom.

"Well, I just saw you here and thought you might be hurt a little." He replied, his voice calm and gentle.

"Well I'm fine, so you can leave."

"Are you sure? You look ups-"

"I said I'm fine!"

The Fox faunus jumped a little from the Cat girls sudden yelling. He looked at her and noticed the kind of state she was in. Aside from the bruises and cuts on her skin, she looked like she maintained her apparel relatively well. She too was wearing a simple black shirt, as well as a dark grey skirt, and a ribbon around her left arm. Her burning amber eyes held rage behind them, and sadness as well.

"You look hurt." The Fox boy said.

"I told you that I'm fine, now why don't you leave me alone?" The Cat girl demanded.

"I just wanna make sure that your fine. I mean, you look a little hurt from those cuts and bruises."

"Why does it even matter to you? I'm just some random girl you don't even know."

"I don't care. If someone is hurt, whether they're human or faunus, I'm gonna help them."

The Cat faunus was surprised by the Fox faunus' declaration. She'd never known someone would be this way, being willing to help a complete stranger. She took a step back and motioned for the boy to come closer. He smiled before walking over and starting to look over her arms and legs.

"Fortunately, none of these cuts are too deep. All you need to do is let your aura heal it." The Fox said.

"Aura? You mean like what Huntsmen and Huntresses have?" The cat girl frowned.

"Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"I... I don't have an aura."

"Huh? Oh. Well, how about I release it for you."

"What!? You can do that?" She said, smiling a little.

"Yeah. I just have to use my own to release yours."

"Do it! I wanna have an aura!"

The Fox faunus chuckled lightly before placing a hand on the Cat girls chest. She blushed before seeing a blue light looking thing surround him. She then felt as if something entered her chest before a black light wrapped itself around her. She gasped in awe and looked at her arms, also wrapped in the black lights. She gasped when she watched her cuts and bruises disappear,leaving her with smooth and unmared skin. The black aura faded, as well as the Fox boys blue aura.

"Thank you." The cat girl said.

"No problem..." The Fox faunus fell back on his butt in exhaustion.

"Are you okay!?"

"Yeah. Just a little tired from releasing your aura."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I don't wanna just sit back and watch others get hurt."

The Cat Faunus sighed before saying "You know, I don't think i eher told you my name. It's Blake."

"Blake? That's a cute name. My name is-"

"YOU!" A loud, and familiar voice yelled.

Blake looked up and gasped when she saw it was the store owner from before. He was practically seething with rage, and all over her stealing food. She backed away in fear until she had backed herself into the wall, feeling trapped.

"Thought you could get away huh? Nice try, but I don't let anyone especially a faunus steal from me." The man said, slowly walking forward towards Blake.

"P-please sir. I don't have a home. I had no choice, just-" Blake was cut off.

"Why don't you leave her alone?" The Fox faunus stepped in between the two.

"Oh, and who is this little bastard? Some thief friend of yours?"

"No. I'm just some fox faunus. Hey cat?"

"What?" Blake was mildly annoyed by the stupid nickname.

"Get ready to run." He mouthed to her before returning his attention to the store owner.

The owner had pulled out a small defense knife and held it close to his side. Blake became fearful of the situation, but the Fox faunus hadn't. Or at least he didn't show it, as he was the only thing standing between her and the enraged human. The Fox faunus walked forward quickly before the Man swiped at him with his knife.

 **Present Time**

"Blake come on! We need to get Drake back to Beacon!" Yang yelled to get Blake out of her daze.

She shook her head quickly. "Right. Sorry."

The group of ten quickly began to pick up their pace in an urgent hurry. A small trail of blood drops had started shortly as they exited the forest, likely from the Fox faunus' wound. The left side of his shirt was soaked in the crimson liquid, and it had looked like the bleeding wouldn't stop soon. Ruby was visibly worried, as shown by her shaking arms and watery eyes.

"I'm gonna run ahead and tell them about what happened." Ruby said, ready to rush off.

"Wait. Take him with you. Your faster than the rest of us." Yang said, holding the bleeding out Faunus for her.

"What? I... Okay."

She held out her arms and Yang carefully placed him in her younger sisters hands. Ruby nodded before rushing off in a red blur.

"Please hurry little sis. Keep him safe." Yang whispered.

"Do you really doubt that she won't make it?" Blake asked.

"Huh? Oh, I guess you heard. No, I don't doubt her, but I'm still worried regardless."

"He's gonna be fine. I promise Yang."

Yang smiled when Blake placed an understanding hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand over it and looked into her amber eyes. The two stayed like that for a moment before running to catch up with the rest of the group, since they'd fallen behind.

* * *

Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch kept their attention on the horizon, which was actually a downlward path leading into the forest, and the only way back to the top of the Cliffside of which they were at. They'd both seen the footage and both had their own opinions on the matter. Glynda, even though she was a strict teacher, still cared for her students well-being, to an extent at the very least. Ozpin had his own thoughts on the matter, having little doubt of the Fox faunus' survival in the situation, and more of his semblance.

"Professor Ozpin, I believe we should be prepared to escort Miss Rose and Mr Vermillion to the infirmary." Glynda said.

"Yes. Given his condition, medical care should be administered immediately." Ozpin replied.

"Should we try aura transfer sir? It may help the odds in a situation such as this."

"Only if this situation escalates to that point. We must not hesitate in ensuring Mr Vermillion's survival."

"I understand sir. And it appears miss Rose is approaching quickly."

She wasn't wrong as a bright red blur had just crossed over the horizon and was still rapidly approaching them. Roughly half a minute later, the red blur had stopped right in front of them. Ruby was panting heavily from having to used her semblance for an extended time, but kept her grip on the boy in her arms tight, so she was still holding him. She set him down on the ground gently, and Glynda walked over and took a quick examination at the wound, gasping quietly, but still loud enough for Ruby and Ozpin to hear.

"His side is cut deep, but the bleeding is the bigger issue. Miss Rose, do you have anything we can use to halt the flow of blood?" Glynda asked in urgency.

"No I don- wait a moment." She said looking at Drake, or rather what was wrapped around his neck.

"We can use that!"

"Quickly, wrap it around him and make sure it's bound tightly." Glynda ordered.

Ruby went to work, quickly undoing the scarf on his neck, and quickly wrapping it around his body, over the wound he mysteriously acquired. It wrapped twice before it stopped, so she pulled tightly to ensure that no more blood would be lost before tying the two ends together. She went to pick him up, but was stopped by Glynda.

"You seem a bit exhausted miss Rose, so allow me to carry him the rest of the way." The teacher said.

"Huh? Really? Well okay. I guess." Ruby was confused by the teachers willingness to help, but allowed her to nonetheless.

Glynda used her semblance to levitate the unconscious Fox faunus before moving him into her waiting arms. With him there she, as well as Ruby and professor Ozpin started making their way back to the academy hastily. Ruby had to go a bit slower so she could call up the others and tell them about where they'll be.

"Hello?" Yang's voice rang from the scroll.

"Hey sis. Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin are with me and we're on our way to the infirmary." Ruby said.

"That's great. Wait, how are you talking with me if your carrying Drake?"

"Oh, professor Goodwitch is carrying him for me."

"Really? That doesn't seem much like her."

"I know, right? Anyways, I gotta go, but I'll link our scrolls so you can find us."

"Okay. See ya there sis." Yang said.

Ruby hung up and sent a tracking connection to Yang, which she accepted immediately. Now Ruby knew their location, as well them knowing hers. She put her scroll up and focused on getting Drake the help he needed.

 _ **Protect him for me. Please.**_

"Huh?" Ruby stopped when she heard a mysterious, yet calm and feminine voice.

"Miss Rose, please keep up. Drake is in an urgent condition." Ozpin said.

Ruby nodded and started to follow quickly again, still wondering whose voice that was.

* * *

 **And that's where I'll end it. I want to apologize, but I have run into some... Complications. My house doesn't have any internet because of my mom and her boyfriend. I apologize, but am happy to at least have posted this. Any who, I know the chapter sounds like it'd be Weiss focused, but I changed my mind mid way. Thank you for those who have been keeping up with this, and I hope you continue to enjoy. Drake Belladonna, signing off.**


	14. Chapter 14: The Woman Cloaked in Azure

**Here's chapter 14 for you all. Enjoy.**

* * *

 ** _I hope they heard my message._**

 _I know they did. If I know them, then I know for a fact that Ruby heard you._

 ** _Speaking of Ruby, what is her destiny?_**

 _That is one thing I cannot be certain of I'm afraid._

 _ **I understand that, but I'm sure she'll be able to save everyone in the end.**_

 _What makes you say that?_

 ** _Because your gonna be there for her to teach her of what she is._**

 _What!? Wait, you don't mean..._

 ** _Yes. When she finds that location, then you will be able to assist her._**

 _What about you? I can't just leave you here._

 ** _I'm gonna intervene in a different way, my friend._**

 _Okay. I trust your judgement. Luna Light._

 ** _You don't have to use my first and middle names_**

 _Oh. Would you prefer miss Vermillion?_

 ** _Quiet you._**

* * *

Ruby was pacing back and forth impatiently in the waiting room of the infirmary. She, Glynda and Ozpin had arrived there five minutes ago and asked, more like demanded, that an available nurse quickly examine her unconscious friend. The nurse was surprised that the Fox faunus was in the condition he was, but immediately rushed him into a room immediately. While the doctor and nurse were busy overlooking any injuries, including possible internal injuries, they required Ruby to stay in the waiting room, which she was reluctant to do at first, but was convinced by Glynda.

' _I hope he's okay. I couldn't imagine if he was hurt because of me. W-wait what?' Ruby thought to herself._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the doors from the hallway into the waiting room suddenly bursting open. The reason why was by one hyperactive Orange haired girl, and another worried purple eyed girl who's hair practically looked like fire. Accompanying them were the rest of their friends consisting of Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren. Ruby ran over and grabbed Yang into a hug, practically burying her head into her sisters shoulder before letting her tears flow forth. Yang slowly ran her hand down the younger girls back.

"He's gonna be okay sis. I promise." Yang whispered.

"B-but it's my fault that he got injured!" Ruby claimed, putting the blame on herself.

"Huh?" The others exclaimed in confusion.

"Ruby, theres no way it could've been your fault. He kne-"

"But it is! I should've been paying more attention and tryed to protect him!"

"Sis. Listen to me. He knew the risks of the initiation, heck even Ozpin said there is chance that someone may die, but that's not the point."

"Your sister is right Ruby. He knew the risks and decided to challenge this, but you can't forget what he's capable of." Blake stepped in and placed a consolidating hand on the younger girls shoulder.

"From what we've seen, this Drake boy is quite strong. For a faunus." Weiss mumbled the last bit.

Ruby looked to the three girls and noticed they all had the same expression. That alone should've showed her that they didn't blame her for what transpired. To add on, they were putting their faith in favor that the Fox faunus would actually survive, disregarding the fact that they knew very little about the boy. Ruby dried the tears staining her cheeks and looked at the group, despite being the second shortest, shortest being Weiss. She had a renewed sense of vigor and vim.

"You guys are right. He's a tough one, Drake is. He'll pull through this." Ruby announced to the others.

"Indeed he shall." Headmaster Ozpin said, alerting the group to his prescence.

"Huh? Oh, Hello professor. Is Drake okay?"

"His condition is stable, however, he is still in a comatose condition."

"What!?" The group was shocked.

"As I said, his body is fine, but his mind... It's simply asleep. As though his soul is asleep."

"S-so he's not gonna wake up?" Ruby asked with watery eyes.

"We are not sure, but if you so wish, you may visit him."

Ruby nodded and headed for the room her friend was held in. She was followed by Yang, Weiss, and Blake, each with their own concerns for the boy.

 _'If Ruby is this worried for him, then she must really think close of him.' Yang thought._

 _'As much as a pest I thought he would be, he actually seems a bit familiar for some reason. Hmm...' Weiss pondered why she felt the familiarity in someone she had supposedly met earlier._

 _'Could he be... No. There's no way. It's just a coincidence. He can't be that kid.' Blake tried to assure herself._

Upon entering the room, Ruby was introduced to the sight of Drake hooked up to a strange machine, as well as an IV drip and heart rate monitor. The sight was enough to bring more tears to her eyes as she approached the unconscious boy. At his side, she placed a hand on his Fox tail and slowly caressed it, in hopes eliciting a response. All she got in return was a soft moan followed by more silence. She sighed sadly and looked back at the door as the three who had followed her were there.

"Sis..." Yang was at a loss of words, unsure if any words would help.

"I hope he wakes up." Ruby mumbled just loud enough for the others to hear.

Yang was about to move to comfort her, but was surprised when Weiss stepped in first. She approached the Rose girl and looked her in the eyes. She reached an arm forward and carefully flicked Ruby in the forehead. The reapette recoiled in pain and pressed her hands on the forming red mark.

"What was that for Weiss!?" Ruby whined.

"Thats for being a dolt. You out of all of us should know he'll be okay." Weiss said.

"But it's my fault he-"

"Stop blaming yourself. If he were awake, he would be saying the same thing."

"But-"

"Stop. That's enough Ruby Rose. Your a wonderful person for wanting to help however you can, but I think what would help most right now is to stop placing yourself as the center of blame." Weiss explained to her basically how she felt, even though the silver eyed girl was still an annoyance in her eyes.

"W-Weiss..." Ruby was left dumbfounded by the white haired heiress' explanation.

"Miss Schnee is right Ruby. And as much as I'm sure you would all love to stay around here, there are more important matters to attend to." Ozpin said.

"Okay professor. Lead the way."

Ozpin lead the girls out of the infirmary room and they started heading for the auditorium. Before they left though, they each went to Drake's side and said a small goodbye even though they'd be returning later.

* * *

"Where... Am I?" Drake said.

In his eyes, he was in some kind of a black void. As he looked around, he only saw an endless maw of darkness staring back at him. What left him most confused was the fact that neither of his faunus features were present, making him pass off as any other human. He stood atop some kind of invisible platform, as his feet were flat as though on stable ground.

 **You seek answers?**

"Who said that!?" The Faunus said in surprise, looking all around.

 **It's been so long.**

"Who are you and where are you?!"

In response, a bright flash of light burst into his vision, blinding him momentarily. His vision was slow to return, so everything looked like a blur. Thankfully it wasn't too slow as the shapes began to form and another sudden development caught his attention. Beneath him was no longer tbe endless darkness, but rather a blank platform. Nothing but what appeared to be pure white. Turning his attention forward, he saw a person. Though their face was masked by a cloak, their figure appeared feminine.

"Were you the voice I heard?" Drake asked.

"Yes. I've been watching over you for some time." She said.

"Okay then. Whats your name?"

"You will learn it in time, but for now, call me Azure."

"Like your cloak?"

She simply nodded in response.

"Well, what is this place we're in?"

Azure stayed silent, the only sound coming from her was the sound of the cloak billowing in the non-existent wind.

"Are you gonna say anything or not?" Drake was mildly irritated.

"You seek answers about your past. Do you not?" Azure finally broke her short silence.

"H-how did-"

"As I said. I have been watching you for a while. Unfortunately, your memories were shattered. And now I'm having trouble trying to reconnect the chains."

"The chains?" The Fox faunus looked confused.

"Your memories are connected by chains linking to your heart and the bonds you have with friends."

"So it's like a Chain of Memories then?"

"Exactly." Azure smiled as Drake picked up on things quickly.

"Where do we get stated then?"

"That's the hard part unfortunately."

"What!?"

Drake walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. She could feel the rage emanating from the boy. It was almost frightening, but the woman understood why.

"Why is it hard for me to remember my past!?" Drake demanded.

"It is because you have come to rely on the rage inside too much."

"What does that even mean!"

"Think of it this way. There are two paths. The path of a Dark Knight, one surrounded by shadows. And the path of a Paladin, one who is surrounded by light."

"Okay, so what are you getting at?" Drake released the woman's shoulders.

"So far, you've been treading down the path of the Dark Knight. You have no hope of recovering your memories."

"Then how do I take the path of the Paladin?"

"You must face the darkness within your soul. Only then will you be able to start recovering your memories."

"Then how do I begin?" Drake asked with a steeled gaze.

* * *

"Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. You have each retriever the White Knight piece, so I here by dub you team RWBY. Lead by Ruby Rose." Ozpin announced.

Weiss was in disbelief that Ruby was chosen as leader rather than her. Blake smiled for the youngest girl being dubbed leader. Yang was practically ecstatic for her sister. Ruby was absolutely flustered by being chosen for such an important role, but still happy nonetheless.

"That concludes the formation of the new teams. We welcome you to Beacon, and hope to see great things from each of you. You are all dismissed."

Ozpin stepped off the stage while the people began filing out themselves, returning to their dorms. Yang ran over and grabbed her sister into the tightest hug ever.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said.

"Um Yang? Ruby is turning blue." Blake pointed out, her new leader actually turning the color.

"Whoops. Sorry sis, I was just super excited for you."

Ruby was breathing heavily, trying to get air back inside her lungs.

"Why?" She said whilst groaning in pain.

"Well, congratulations for you Ruby." Weiss said, showing a side of kindness rarely seen.

"Thanks Weiss. Well, since we're done here, I guess we should go to our new dorm room."

"That sounds like a terrific idea."

With that, the three girls started that way. In the back of their minds, they were still sharing concern for their Fox friend. But they'd all had quite a long day, so they resigned on just going to the dorm and heading to sleep once night fell.

* * *

 **There you have it. One of the two who have been speaking at the start finally reveals their self. Sort of. Anyways, sorry if its short and or dialogue driven, but I had to get on with the deeper truths. There were two Easter eggs, both refencing two of my favorite games. There's also a reference to a Yu-Gi-Oh deck type as well. By The Way, I also started a new story called the Black Beast Burns. It's about Blake after the events of volume three if anyone wants to check it out. Anyways, next time, we tackle the first day and finding out about the path of a Paladin. Drake Belladonna signing off.**


	15. Chapter 15: First Day, First Challenge

**Here's chapter 15 for you all. Enjoy.**

 _Are you sure your making the right choice Luna?_

 ** _Of course. I know that destiny belongs to each individual, but I wanna set him on the right path._**

 _If thats what you believe you should do, then go forth and do so._

 ** _Thank you for supporting me._**

 _What was I supposed to do? Abandon one of my childhood friends?_

 _ **You really are an adamant person Snow Rose.**_

 _And there you go with your nicknames again, Cat Dancer._

 _ **Whatever. Anyways, today is the first day of classes. Remember our first day?**_

 _Of course. We were almost late._

 _ **Maybe next time you wouldn't sleep in.**_

 _How was I supposed to know I'd be up late writing in my diary!?_

* * *

The morning could be described as anything, but today felt quite elegant in the words of a familiar Snowy haired girl. Not a cloud was in the sky, and the day felt like it could be called a perfect one. Which meant that nobody should be sleeping in, not even the aforementioned girl. Unfortunately for her, she was on the receiving end of the world most annoying tool, the whistle. Her eyes flew open wide and she nearly jumped out of bed in surprise, but rather fell.

"Rise and Shine Weiss!" Ruby yelled out.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Weiss said, enraged..

"Decorating!" Yang yelled while holding up stuff like posters, pictures, books, etc.

"What!?"

"We still have to unpack." Blake gestured to a suitcase, which opened on its own, spilling the contents. "And clean."

Weiss was still trying to process what was going on when Ruby decided to blow the whistle in her ear. Weiss once again fell in surprise and stifled her anger to quickly get dressed and start unpacking. Yang had decided to start her decorating by putting up a poster of some band called the Achieve Men. Blake was stocking the bookcase when she came across a rather, 'unique' book which she stowed elsewhere. Weiss was hanging up a framed painting of what appeared to be a beautiful red forest. Ruby had gotten to work trying to level the curtains, and decided her scythe was the 'appropriate' tool to do so. Once it was, she smiled and turned to face the group, unknowingly cutting the curtain in half at first.

It had taken roughly thirty minutes for them to finish getting everything in order, but they were successful nevertheless. The walls were decorated and all their clothing was situated, but there was still one overlying problem in the room. The beds were all in a large pile, for some reason. It was quite obvious that somethings had to be changed.

"This isn't going to work." Weiss pointed out.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff?" Yang suggested.

"Or we can ditch the beds," Ruby gasped at another idea "and replace them with bunk beds!"

"That sounds crazy." Weiss said.

"And super fun!" Yang yelled in excitement.

"It does sound like it would be efficient." Blake murmured.

"I still think we should put this to a vote." Weiss still felt uneasy from the thought of bunk beds.

"I'm pretty sure we just did." Ruby pointed out.

Out of the four of them, Weiss was the only one to reject the idea, while Yang, Ruby, and Blake all supported it. So, the girls quickly got to work in that early morning to get their beds arranged as voted on. It had take roughly thirty minutes, but they had succeeded. On the right side of the room, Yang's bed had been stacked over Blake's and was balanced with books between each of the legs. Ruby and Weiss' bunk though, well Ruby's was suspended with ropes over the White haired girls bed.

"Objective complete." Ruby proclaimed with a bright smile.

"Those ropes better be sturdy you dolt." Weiss scowled.

"Trust me, they're fine. Now then, our next objective is classes." Ruby said classes with disdain as she wasn't looking forward to them. "Our first class is scheduled at nine, and then we-"

"Did you say nine!?"

"Uh..."

"Its eight fifty five you dunce!"

Weiss quickly ran out of the room and headed for their first class. The rest of team RWBY as well as JNPR, which was composed of Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren, all stuck their heads out their dorms doorways and watched as the heiress ran.

"Um, to class!" Ruby shouted out.

She then started running after the heiress, while wondering in her head how she could run in high heels. She was quickly pursued by Yang and Blake as they too would prefer to not be late on their first day.

"Class?" Jaune said meekly.

It was then that he realized the rest of his teammates were actually on top of him. At the moment of realization, his legs gave out and they fell into a pile of bodies in the floor. Jaune was the first one to emerge, dispite being the one beneath everyone, and started to pursue the all girl team. He was quickly followed by the remainder of his team as they joined the group of running girls. Along the way to the class, they had passed by Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin, who stood by and watched as they tried not to be late.

 _'Where is miss Nulfrost?' Ozpin wondered in his mind._

Said girl was lingering in the infirmary of the unconscious Fox Faunus, standing idly over him. She ran a semi frosted hand across the boys forehead, brushing his hair from his face and sending a cool sensation through him. The veins around his right eye lit up in a dark blue, as though triggered from the girls touch. Shiva smiled to herself, almost joyous in the boys state.

"You will complete whatever trial is keeping you in this state, otherwise you may lose something dear to you." She had a somber tone while she said that.

"Excuse me ma'am, but you may need to get to class, since you are a student." A nurse popped in and notified her.

"Of course. I'll be right out."

Shiva had gone from a cold and emotionless demeanor to a bright and cheerful one. She exited the room and happily skated over to her first class of the day. Yet in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of the possibilities. She gave herself a solemn smile and simply continued onto class without a word.

* * *

"Your first trial in walking a Paladin's path is to face your inner darkness." Luna said.

"Okay then, how on Remnant am I supposed to face my inner darkness?" Drake replied.

The void they had stood in was now suddenly filled by a never-ending field of snow. The Fox Faunus had been caught off guard by the sudden shift in surroundings and climate. The wind was blowing roughly, which in turn brought about an icy blizzard. Drake had gripped his arms with each hand in an attempt to shield the cold from himself, but to no avail. He fell to his knees and looked up towards the hooded woman before him.

"This is your heart. For such a long while, you've been trapped within this cold land but now it is time to release yourself." She said.

"But how? How do you expect me to stop a damn blizzard?" Drake said through gritted teeth, almost chattering from the severe winds.

"Find your way through it, and the answer shall become clear."

The Azure cloaked woman had begun to walk away from the boy, the harsh winds concealing her tracks as the disappeared into the White flurry. He tried to follow, but the sheer intensity of the cold was too much, so he collapsed to his knees, digging his hands into the snow. His heterochromatic eyes locked onto the snowy plain beneath him, yet his mind wandering.

"I can't do this... It's just too much..." He murmured to himself.

*You have... To keep going...*

Another strange, yet oddly familiar voice rang through his head. He looked around, but was only met with the sight of the continued whiteness. However, instead of just sitting there and freezing to his surely icy demise, he slowly got back onto his feet and lopled off into the distance.

*Find the path... Please, my -o-h-r...*

His attention was turned towards the snowy distance and so he began the long and arduous task ahead of him. He departed for the horizon, under the guiding words of the mysterious voice. Unbeknownst to him, the symbol on his scarf lit up for a brief moment before fading back to the original colors. The snowy field refused to give, but the determination that was vested into him kept him on his path and pushed him forth.

* * *

It's was nine fifty in the real world, and the first class for everyone was still in session, lasting at least until ten thirty. The first class for teams RWBY and JNPR was Grimm studies. At first, it seemed like it would be an amazing class, that is until you met the teacher. His name was Peter Port, and he sort of had a tendency to... Let's say ramble.

His rambling was anything but entertaining or educational. It was basically him talking about stories he had supposedly experienced. So, rather than listen to the man's boring ranting, the girls of team RWBY were left to think about some stuff.

 _'Man this is so boring! I thought that Beacon would be so much more fun than this.' Ruby thought. 'Well, I guess I've gotta take the good with the bad. I did get Weiss as my partner after all.' Ruby giggled a little at that._

 _'What is it with this sense of deja vu I'm getting' The Heiress thought, thinking of Drake 'Its almost like I know him from somewhere, yet I don't recall ever meeting a Fox faunus anywhere.' Weiss sighed, lost in thought and bored of professor Port's ramblings._

"Ahem! Miss Schnee, if you find my lecture boring, then you may kindly leave." He said to her.

"I'm sorry sir. I'll pay attention from now on."

"Right. Now, as I was saying..."

 _'Oh my goddess! How can a man be so boring!?' Yang thought to herself, beyond bored. 'Man, Drake must be having more fun than me even though he's knocked out. I hope he's okay, cause I don't think Ruby would forgive herself if he isn't fine.'_

Blake sighed quietly and, like her other teammates, was lost in thought.

 _'There has to be an explanation. Maybe just coincidence?' Blake too was thinking of the Fox Faunus. 'No. Why do I feel this way with him? I need an answer.'_

"A true leader is vigilant. Courageous. And Wise" Port said, finishing his lecture. "Does anybody here believe they fit these qualities?"

One hand from the rest of the class shot up, and it had belonged to Weiss Schnee. The Professor told her to go get her equipment on, and she couldn't help but feel more deja vu. However, she knew what this feeling was linked to, and it was one she would rather be left buried. She went back to her team's dorm room and changed back into her combat clothes and held out her weapon upright with her eyes closed.

"I, Weiss Schnee, promise to become stronger." The heiress said to herself.

She then sheathed her weapon and quickly headed back to the classroom.

* * *

The snowing tundra in which Drake had been enraptured by refused to give up. Though the Blizzard did subside into a light snow fall, that still did little to the temperature issue. The temp was continually dropping slowly without stop. The clothing the Fox faunus was currently cloaked in could only do so much to preserve what body heat he had. Even wrapping the fluffy tail of his around him failed in keeping the cold away.

"Dammit. Why did I think that I could stop this frigid weather?" Drake was clutching his sides. "What does Luna think clearing this weather will do to help me?"

His complaints only meritted a sudden surge in the snowfall. The snow stuck to his clothes, which slowed him down and only made it harder to insulate his body heat. He visibly shivered as he walked along the snowy horizon for what felt like an eternity to him. It was only when a low blue light from the corner of his right eye did he notice a change to the snow white landscape. He looked that way and noticed that it looked like a person, but the shape was hard to make out. The only noticeable detail seemed to be a blue-

"Scarf..." The Fox faunus whispered. "Like mine."

He grabbed at the duality colored fabric around his neck and stared at the person in the distance. The figure began to slowly shrink, as if walking away from him, so he started to sprint towards it. However, this figure, whoever they were, was no stranger to running as they seemingly kept a constant pace away from the boy, even when he sped up. The chase was on, and the Fox was prepared for anything, except for when the figure bolted to the right and he continued to run straight, only to run smack into a wall of some sort. He slowly peeled his body away from it and looked in the direction the figure went, seeing that they were the same distance they had kept from him. He raised an eyebrow and figured that his eyes were playing a trick on him. He took a step back, and he was shocked to see that the figure had also taken a step back, or forward, since he couldn't tell which direction they were facing.

"Okay. This... 'Thing' must be a guide I'm supposed to follow or something." Drake declared.

He started back up a gradual jog and proceeded to follow the creature at a moderate pace, showing little sign of fatigue from mere moments ago. It was his determination that was carrying him forward, after this creature. He was facing an uncertain future, but that wouldn't stop him from facing it either way.

* * *

"You can do it Weiss!" Ruby cheered from the front row of the class.

"Kick some butt!" Yang yelled out, even though they were in a close proximity.

"Fight Well!" Blake had cheered a little quieter than her teammates, but she waved a little flag with Team RWBY on it.

Weiss stood before the class with her weapon, Myrtenaster, drawn and readied. She peered into the blood red eyes of the cage before her, stilling her mind and steadying her focus. She was ready to face whatever creature was entrapped in the cage. The sheer focus of her determination made the room feel heavy with anticipation of the battle to unfold.

"Let the test... Begin!" Professor Port yelled as he brought his double edged Blunderbuss Axe down upon the cage lock.

The door flung open as a black warthog like creature charged out of it and at the heiress. This creature was a Boarbatusk, another creation of Grimm, and it had its sights set on ending Weiss. She quickly dived to the right to avoid its bone white tusks. The creatures hooves skidded across the floor as it spun around to face the heiress.

"Oh ho! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" The Professor chimed in.

Weiss quickly took a stabbing stance and rushed the creature down. It saw the girl rapidly approaching and tried to hit her with its tusks again. She saw it approaching and quickly dropped her stab attempt, but she stumbled a bit. The Grimm didn't hit her with its tusks, but her weapon did get stuck between them. She tried to pry her rapier away from the ebony creatures ivory tusks, but I shook its head around, forcing her to back off and tossing her weapon elsewhere in the room.

"What will you do without your weapon now?" Port criticized.

Weiss growled a little at that and eyed her weapon from across the room. Her gaze quickly switched to the Boarbatusk as it quickly curled up into some kind of razor ball. It had spun rapidly, but wasn't moving, only gaining more speed, and unknowingly giving Weiss time to form a plan. When it bolted forward at her, Weiss did a leaping dive over it. She dove for her weapon, and the Grimm smacked into the reinforced banister of the seats.

Weiss took a moment to catch her breath since she was disoriented. She knew that if this were on the battlefield, there would be no time to catch her breath, so she quickly steadied herself and rotated her weapons dust canister. It spun around with the multiple colors of dust before she settled for lightning dust. The Heiress was preparing to commence her attack, but was stopped when Ruby tried to give her advice.

"Weiss! There isn't any armor on the belly!" The reapette called out.

"Dont tell me what to do!" Weiss scolded Ruby without turning her attention off her enemy.

She sat down with a frown, feeling bad for distracting Weiss. The Snow haired girl stood like a statue as her enemy recovered and tried to attack her with the same attack that had just failed. This time though, it had a quicker charge, so it bolted at her faster than before, but she was ready this time. She formed a glyph wall, which the Boarbatusk had rammed straight into. The Grimm was left on its back and Weiss put her quick plan into action.

She quickly pointed her weapon at it and released her static dust reservoir at it. The Dust made contact and paralyzed the creature. Weiss then formed a glyph beneath her feet and used it to spring herself into the air. From there, she rushed down in a white blur, sinking her rapier into the belly of the Grimm. It's legs fell slack to its sides, and she took a sigh of relief as the battle had dragged on for longer than she was anticipated, but finally ended.

"Well done miss Schnee! You truly have the makings of a Huntress in training." Professor Port congratulated. "Why it reminds me of the time-" The bell for the class to end suddenly rang out. "Oh, well class dismissed!"

Weiss was first to leave the room, but she rapidly pursued by her teams leader. By the time she caught up, Weiss had only rounded the first corner and towards the dorm room. She looked like something had upset her greatly, and that was what Ruby intended to find out. She had placed her hand on the white haired girls shoulder and she stopped.

"Weiss, what's wrong with you?" Ruby asked.

"Whats wrong is that you were trying to distract me!" Weiss scolded.

"I was only trying to help is all."

"Well maybe next time you should keep your own opinions to yourself."

"I'm sorry. I'm just new to this whole 'being leader' thing." She admitted with a blush.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be leader. Maybe Ozpin made a mistake." Weiss glared at her.

Ruby shrunk a little and frowned at how Weiss felt about her. Weiss then turned back around and continued to walk to where she was. Ruby sighed and turned around to walk away, but she was surprised to see Headmaster Ozpin waiting there, silent as usual. He was holding his coffee mug as per usual, which seemed to never be empty, and he held a rather enigmatic expression.

"Well that was certainly unexpected." Ozpin said.

"Was it true what she said?" Ruby asked, her tone a little upset.

"Well, that has yet to be seen."

"But what if it was a mistake for me to be leader?"

Ozpin sighed and took a sip from his coffee mug before addressing her again. "Ruby, I have made more mistakes than every man, woman or child on the planet, but I don't believe appointing you as team leader to be one of them."

"But how am I supposed to prove myself." Ruby was still frowning, but behind that she had held a bit of hope that she could impress Weiss.

"Being a leader means being able to prove yourself more than just on the battlefield." Ozpin started. "It is a badge of honor which shows how you can manage to push through even the hardest situations. Even those that srem to he insurmountable, and guiding your allies towards a better future."

The mini speech he gave her had even made him crack a small smile, as it reminded him of a time in his past. Ruby had felt a bit down, but hearing that made her feel a bit more confident. She looked back up at the headmsster with a smile on her cheeks. The pure determination within her made her silver eyes gleam. Like small orbs of hope and belief in one's self.

"Alright. Thanks a lot professor." Ruby thanked.

"Your welcome, now run along." He said.

Ruby nodded and ran off in a small flurry of rose petals. Ozpin sipped from his coffee mug before heading off to his office. The soft click of his cane and the rapid footsteps of the students rang through the hallway. It were almost as though history were repeating itself, but that only made him ask himself whether it was for the better or worse.

Weiss had slowly let her anger subside as she had walked away from Ruby. She couldnt help but feel a slight bit of remorse for the way she had addressed Ruby. It was like she felt like it was wrong to yell at the girl the way she did, since she was just trying to help. Weiss though just ignored those feelings and simply continued her walk since she was out of the next class period, so she really wasn't sure what to do to pass the time. The training room was being used by Glynda's class, so the Library was her best option.

* * *

Drake had been following the strange creature for what felt like an hour. In that time, he discovered that the same rules of the world didnt apply, like hunger or thirst, but fatigue was still possible. So he was forced to pace himself as he followed the strange guide. It had felt like an eternity that he'd been following it, when suddenly it stopped. It was as though it were frozen, since Drake was still walking towards it, so wasn't it supposed move with him?

Feeling worried for whatever reason, he quickly ran up to it, finding that they were now before some kind of ice wall. At first, it looked like any other you would see in the icy poles of Remnant, but that wasnt the case. This wall was clear, shiny, and even reflective. Yet here was the strange anomaly; neither the Fox faunus, nor the guide had a reflection in the wall. Rather, what he saw was a being covered in a while body black cloak, zipped from head to toe, with two metal grey pull strings, and black gloves and boots. The hood was pulled over their face, no features were visible, but part the hood was raised near the back, so it did have a hidden faunus trait. Before Drake could ask who this was, a bright light flashed, blinding him once again, but once it cleared it was revealed to be Luna.

"You? Do you mind explaining what's going on with my reflection?" Drake asked.

"What you see in this mirror is a true representation of yourself." The Cat Faunus answered.

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"This is the real you."

"What!?" Drake was in disbelief. He turned his attention back to the mirror, and his actions were mimicked by the black cloaked figure.

"When you formed that phantom lance to disable the Nevermore, it allowed darkness from the Grimm seep into your aura."

"S-so what are you saying? How do I get rid of the darkness?"

"To rid yourself of the Grimm energy within you, you must defeat yourself."

Before Drake could vocalize his question, the dark reflection of him stepped forth. The mirror wall it was trapped within rippled as it stepped forward. From the mirror, it stepped forward as a perfect replica of what was shown in the reflection. It pulled back it's black hood, revealing a shocking sight to the Fox faunus, but not so surprising to Luna.

It was a perfect clone to Drake, but its hair was pure white with a red streak driving through the right front side. His eyes monochrome like the originals, however this one's was a red one and a golden amber. The only real similarities the two held were the faunus ears. It were as though they were a duality representation of the boy.

"Who are you?" Drake asked.

"I... Am... You." The clone said, his voice quiet, but smooth.

Drake, the original, was in for quiet a battle.

* * *

 **There you have it. The first day is nearly over, but the first challenge for the Fox Faunus has only just begun. I would like to give Shadow Knightblade my thanks for helping in part of the chapter with an idea. Next time, we watch as the first day concludes, and see how Drake intends to deal with this clone. Will Weiss rethink how she treated Ruby, and what exactly are Shiva's motives? Find out next time. Don't forget to review if you liked the chapter, and maybe even follow and favorite, but that's your choice and I won't make you. BTW, I have helped a friend with some YouTube videos, and if you wanna see them, just look for darksora446. Anyways, Just Keep Moving Forward.**

 **Rin Yahto, signing off.**


	16. Chapter 16: Shadows Come to Light

**What to say... Well to start, schools back, so yaaaay... Anyways, I've been in a creative slump for a while, so I apologize for those that care. I fully intend on finishing this, just not sure when. Anyways, let's get a move on.***

 _So now what Luna?_

 _ **Now? Now, we watch to see if he shall stand or fall.**_

 _Very well then. What of young Weiss?_

 _ **You don't have to worry about that. Weiss will get the help she needs in time.**_

 _I see. Did you have this planned?_

 _ **Only for Drake. As for Weiss, she walks a different path.**_

 _A different path? What do you mean?_

 _ **I'** m **afraid that is to be left to the future for us to see.**_

 _Aw, but I wanna know now._

 _ **So do I, but we must wait.**_

 _Man, this sucks._

 ** _At least you get to watch your girls grow up._**

 _True, but I wasn't there for them when they needed it._

 _ **Don't take it so heavily. You were and still are a wonderful mother.**_

* * *

Drake was still in absolute shock at the sight before him. In this snowy stormed tundra, he was now facing against what appeared to be a pale, pallet swapped version of himself. All he could do in this singular instant of time was stare at this beast, unable to act. His Green and Blue eyes staring back into its bloodied red, neither taking a step towards the other. Just gazes locked, matching wit through stare rather than movement.

"Luna, who is this? What's going on?" Drake asked, refusing to divert his gaze.

"That is your shadow. The darkness that infected you in the Emerald Forest." Luna answered.

"Let me rephrase that. Why is this... 'Thing' here?"

"He's here because he is part of you. As I said, we are within your heart, and he is here because darkness has taken hold on your heart."

"That still doesn't answer my question Cat."

She sighed. "If you want to wake up you have to defeat your greatest fear. Yourself."

"Wha-?! What does THAT mean?!"

"You are afraid of losing your friends because of how you look and the power you hold. When you were younger, you were a reclusive boy, not really interacting with others, preferring the company of a book and solitude."

The Cat faunus' little speech was what broke Drake from his ironclad staring contest with himself. He bore a gasping expression of shock upon his face. Just who the hell did this woman think she was, listing his life like that. His thoughts were running a mile a minute, trying his fastest to process the information being relayed to him. His mouth contorted to say the words coming to mind, but no sound was released. It was as though he had lost the power to speak, as though he were now a mute. The Fox grabbed his throat and tried to form the words he needed to speak.

Luna simply stood there, watching the boy struggle with his inability to speak. Though her face read as an emotion of disconcern, inside she was feeling pain from seeing the boy in such a state. She despised seeing Drake in such a form of discord, she nearly wanted to end the pain all together, but knew not to interfere. This was his test after all, so she could not interfere. Although the boy could not speak, the Cat Faunus had thankfully picked up the ability to read lips.

"You must defeat yourself. Destroy this dark apparition. Only then will you be able to see those that you care for again." Luna said while stepping back to allow him to confront himself.

'Why can't I talk!? And why didn't you tell me that in the first place?!' Drake mouthed.

"You cannot speak is one reason I do not know, and I didn't inform you before due to you rushing in blindly without planning out your attack."

'Fine then, just tell me what to do to get out of this place? It's friggin cold out here.'

Luna only frowned and tossed him what appeared to be a sword of a type. The Fox faunus went to work quickly examining it. It was a two and a half foot long katana. Gleaming steel blade, so it was well maintained, an edged hand guard, so it could also work to intercept horizontal swiping attacks. Aside from the great looks, it also appeared to be a rather unremarkable weapon, sporting no additional attachments or gun modifications. Drake looked up at Luna, who only had a frown, her eyes hidden beneath a black veil of hair.

'What's this for?' He mouthed, still unable to sound.

"You wish to escape, but your darker half blocks the path. Defeat him if you want a chance to escape." Luna said, her voice carrying off as she grew quiet.

Drake's attention was drawn over to the palette swap of himself, and gasped silently at what he saw. Floating around the Bloody streaked copy were faint silhouettes of weapons. He counted out three, a single edged shortsword, a double edged claymore, and what appeared to be a spear of some type. Realizing that he must battle, he tried to sync his aura with his semblance, but found neither to be receptive. Alarmed by this, his face scrunched into one of concentration, trying to focus what wasn't there. Being too concerned with his aura Delima, the boy failed to noticed as his mirror self charged forward and nailed a solid punch against his chest. He gasped out in pain flew back til he hit the snow. Propping himself back on an elbow, he looked onward as his other self armed itself with the claymore, making only one feeling run through the boy. Fear.

With a grunt, he pushed himself up off the ground and clutched the katana tightly. He was in for a rough battle, due to the fact that he had little training in wielding a weapon of this caliber properly. His true forte in battle was typically the shortsword or claymore not in his arsenal. Taking stance, legs spread shoulder length apart, and weapon in his fore hand, he stood against the mirrored form of himself. The mimic looked at him and smirked before raising his claymore with both hands and charging forward at an incredible speed. Drake quickly swung to intercept the rising strike, but mimic had quite the power swing, so he was launched into the air by a few meters, leaving open. Mimic did a quick little hop and spun vertically while swinging, sending the original crashing into the ground, a huge snow cloud erupting from impact.

With a cheeky grin, he slowly approached it while swapping his weapon for the much more versatile shortsword. He held it close to his side and stopped just inches from where Drake was supposed to be, waiting for the cloud to clear. It thankfully dispersed in mere moments, but he was shocked, or rather annoyed, to find that there was only an imprint left. Looking around cautiously, he was caught by surprise when a sword suddenly came into his vision. With the faunus reflexes he had, he reacted quickly and parried the sword to the side, earning a thin cut on his cheek from the sloppy reaction. He hissed in annoyance and looked to his left to see Drake standing there, still in swinging postion. He opened his mouth, and this time, through force of will, spoke.

"I... Refuse... To lose to a copy like you!" He yelled out, eyes burning with the fury of the sun.

Mimic smirked once again, this time giggling a little. The giggling quickly erupted into a maniacal laughter rivaling a mad man. He pressed his free hand to his face and looked upward, cackling with insanity. His mere laugh was enough to frighten Drake slightly. He soon drew silent and returned his gaze back to the Fox, his eyes becoming piercing lasers into Drake's visage.

"Die..." Mimic said. "Die... Die.. Die. Die! Die! DIE!" He screamed loudly before filling the landscape with his msd laughter once more.

Drake only growled and tightened his grip once more before saying "I'm gonna stomp you into the ground!"

"Then let's see you try, child."

The two charged one another, preparing for what would be a brutal battle til only the victor remained.

* * *

Weiss opened the library doors quickly, eliciting a soft creak from the old hinges. From just the entrance alone, she could see tens upon hundreds of bookshelfs, each one holding both archives of Remnants history and lesser, more light hearted books of fiction. With a soft smile she proceeded inside, knowing just where she would go first to spend this break period of hers. Her first stop was in the history section, one of the more, how you say, 'abandoned' parts of the library. Scanning through the bookshelves, she quickly found hwe target and smiled as she pulled out a book on Hunters.

The leather face of the book appeared well maintained, but also dusty, likely from very little usage. The pages appeared in good condition from just a glance, only with a bit of yellowing from age. The spine bore the name 'Huntsamen and Huntresses: Atlas', but oddly had one large cut for some odd reason. Taking it as nothing more than a childish joke, the heiress took the book over to a table and sat it down before opening it. Yet, not even a moment later, a voice came forth, preventing her from even starting.

"Excuse me, but is this table taken?" The person asked.

Weiss groamed and looked up to see a boy about seventeen gears of age. He had bright orange eyes, and a tan complexion, hinting that he may be of a Mistralian heritage or just very outdoorsy. He had silver shoulder length silver hair left down, so some of it covered his eyes. He was currently looking at Weiss with a gentle smile, which Weiss inferred that he meant no harm.

"No. Sit here if you must, just don't disturb me." Weiss said quickly, wanting to get started on her book.

"Thank you." He said.

The boy sat across from Weiss and opened a book of his own, but she was more interested in trying to get started in her book rather than his. Roughly five minutes passed and not a word was spoken between the two. Weiss only got what she could guess was a tenth of the way through the book before finding it had no meaning to what was plaguing her mind. With a soft groan of annoyance, the snow haired girl slammed the book shut. The boy looked up and blinked once in curiosity.

"It would seem your having doubt?" He questioned.

"How can you tell?" Weiss remarked snidely.

"I can see from your expression. Would you like to talk about whats wrong?"

"Why should I tell some complete stranger?"

"Perhaps it can help alleviatw what pleagues you?."

Weiss tried to argue back, but with how streased she was, she coulent.

"It's just... Why did Ozpin make her leader instead of me!?" She whined.

"I assume you aren't happy with your placement on the team?" The boy asked once again.

"She acts lIle an absolute child, taking none of this serious!"

"You know, each team is different. Perhaps he made her the leader to teach you and the rest of your team something."

"What on Remnant could SHE possibly teach me!?"

To answer her question, the boy got up flipped through the book he had. Weiss looked down on it, and noticed that it had appeared to be some kind of yearbook, An old one at that. He stopped on a page and pointed to a team photo. One girl hade her arm wrapped around another girls neck playfully, while a thired one was laughing at the two and the last one simply smiling at the bunch. This last one had snow white hair, just like Weiss.

"What is the point of showing me this?" Weiss asked.

"This is a team from years ago. The teams leader" he pointed to the one with her arm wrapped around the other "Was accepted earlier than the others, so the one on the far right here thought it was a mistake. Like you do with yours."

"And?"

"What I'm trying to say is that she didn't like that she wasnt leader, she even tried to convince the headmaster to switch her position, but rather than do that, he gave her a little speech of sorts."

"What speech was this?" Weiss took a seat, curious as to where this would lead.

"He told her that even though she wasn't leader, she did have those qualities. But just having the qualities isn't enough. A true leader must also be compassionate, understanding, and above all responsible. And teammates must respect that, but also strive to become stronger themselves through both experience and teachings." He said.

"I think I'm starting to understand it a little. So even though I'm not leader, I should still do what I can as a teammate?"

"Yup." He closed the yearbook shut and smiled at the girl. "It was a pleasure speaking with you."

"As was with you, though I didn't get your name exactly."

"My name? Oh, silly me. My name is Yuya Terumi. But i prefer being called Yu."

"It was a pleasure to meet you Yuya. My name is Weiss Schnee."

Yu smiled and waved Weiss off as she went to go find Ruby. He too got up and replaced his book back in its proper section before leaving. Before leaving though, he did leave a little card on the table. It appeared to be some weird ball like shape with wing sprouting from it and a halo floating on top.

* * *

The sounds of clashing metal rang loudly through the snowy land raging within Drake's heart. He stood against himself, with his katana pressing against Mimic's shortsword, who responded with equal force. They were stuck in a sword clash stalemate, neither one deviating from their struggle. The two growled at one another as they matched strength, which would be expected of two with equal power.

"You never told me, what's your name?" Drake asked.

"Your worrying about that now!? This is a fight you idiot!" He said, pressing harder against the Fox.

"Maybe so, but I still need something to call you."

"Just shut up and fight!"

"How about Mimi?"

Mimic flinched at that and jumped back, ending the sword clash. The two were once again caught in a star down. Yet this time, mimic appeared to be shaken up by the name suggestion.

"Are you trying to piss me off!? Mimi is a freaking girls name, and I'm not a girl!" He yelled loudly.

"Okay, sorry. Just mimic then." Drake replied, grabbing his sword with both hands.

"I don't care about a fucking name, I just wanna kick your ass!"

"Fine then, let's resume this fight!"

Drake charged at the mimic once again, only this time, it just stood there. Then, just as Drake was two meters in front of him, at what seemed like light speed, he stabbed forward with the lance in his arsenal. Unfortunately though, with how fast he had to react, his aim was off, so the worst damage he did was a cut into the originals side. The Fox Faunus winced in pain, but continued to try and swing his sword, but was intercepted with the polearm potion of the lance. Using his free hand once more, Mimic reformed the shortsword and made swing for Drake's neck. Time seemed to slow as the sword slowly closed in, aiming to rend Drake's head from his shoulders. All he could do was watch in fear. His thoughts raced a mile a minute, trying to process a way out of this where he didn't die. Sadly, all he could come to is try and block with his hand, but the thought of result would be him losing his hand.

' _Dammit! If I could use my aura then this fool wouldn't be a problem!' He cursed in his thoughts. 'If I can't even beat this guy, then what hopes do I have in protecting my friends?!'_

Suddenly, everything fell silent, time seemingly stopping altogether around him. Just a simple rhythmic pulse softly ringing in his ears. The soft beating sounded quite familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The soft beating was soon accompanied by the faint sounds of footsteps. Though quiet in nature, one with faunus ears could pick up the quieter sound that humans could not. Without the threat of beheading at the moment, he dropped his guard attempt and looked around for the source of the sounds.

Drake looked around slowly, while allowing his hearing to help pinpoint the source of the footsteps. They were slowly growing louder, so whoever, or whatever it was, was walking towards him. Turning right and walking forward, he could hear the steps growing louder, so now he was walking towards the thing. In the distance, despite all of the snow, he could still make out a person's figure. As they slowly approached, he noticed that they were female, but that was about all he could make out. The rest of them was cloaked by what appeared to be a cloak meant for insulating in the winter. The distance between them closed only moment later, and now it was Drake standing a meter from anothe lady wearing a cloak.

Her face was hidden from the hood of her coat, but he could see that she was smiling. The girl only came up to eye level in height with boy, but she could still see him though. So now, the two were just staring at one another, only the sounds of the rhythmic beating could be heard.

"It's been so long nee-chan." The girl said with a voice reminiscent to a soft spoken, but still confident you g woman.

"Uh, likewise? Who exactly are you?" Drake asked out of confusion.

"Of course you don't remember me. But if you don't remember me, then why am I here?"

"Thats a good question actually."

"Well, I'm here because you started to doubt yourself, so..."

She swung one of her arms upward before slamming the side of her hand down on Drake's head in a hard chop. He cried out in pain and backed up as he clutched the pained spot.

"What is wrong with you!? That frickin hurts!" He whined.

"Thats for doubting yourself nee-chan!" She said. "Your strong, so why are you doubting yourself in being able to protect your friends?"

"If I can't even beat myself, then how can I possibly help them?"

"Baka. Your friends can protect themselves. They don't need you hovering over like some guardian. There are gonna be times when you won't be there, and they are gonna get hurt, but they get stronger from that experience."

"I'm sorry, but I don't exactly follow."

The girl groaned "Basically, you have to live and learn. You get hurt, then you learn how to avoid getting hurt."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Drake apologized.

"You are such a baka Onee-chan. Now, get over there and beat down that imitator."

"Right. Thanks for your help miss..."

"Just call me Iris."

"Thanks you for the advice Iris."

"Oh, and one more thing." The young girl said, waking up to the boy.

"What?"

"Wake up you lazy bum."

She then pushed Drake, which at first glance wouldn't look like it'd force him back, but it actually blasted him away from her. She quickly shrunk out of his sight, fading back into the snowy land, while Drake quickly landed back near the mimic, which introduced him to the strangest sight. There he was, still in the middle of his clash with the mimic, but he was also looking at the scene as though he weren't actually fighting. Time seemed to slowly unfreeze, and the mimics shortsword started to slowly inch towards the boys neck. Deciding itd be best for questions later, Drake quickly leaped into the shell he had left behind, and time began to march at its normal pace. The sound of slicing suddenly rang loudly in the battle space. Mimics sword had connected with Drake, but not at its intended target.

"What!?" He growled in surprise.

His sword was being held back by a hand, one covered in an all too familiar blue aura. His grip trembled slightly, surprised and almost fearful of the sight. His attention then diverted to the original, who was slowly looking upwards before their eyes met. Mimi flinched in fear as the strong eyed gaze of Azure and Verdant pierced his own Crimson gaze.

"Surprised?" Drake simply asked as a smirk formed onto his face.

"H-how? Your aura was locked!" Mimic's voice trembled as fear filled him.

"I just needed a little push is all."

The white haired imitation leaped back, dispersing his weapons while looking at the original. The blue aura wrapped itself around the boy, healing the cuts he had sustained from their fight, including the large gash in his side. In his eyes, his pupils had reverted to their normal, but strangely, just the normal appearance was enough to shake up the mimic, to the point of him shaking. Then, Drake started to slowly walk forward, ready to end this fight.

Mimic tried to call out Stay Back, but found that his voice was now stolen. He then quickly formed his spear and flung it at Drake, but it was deflected with a simple swing of his arm. He tried to back up, but tripped over himself and was now sitting back in the snow. Drake was slowly closing in, he tried scooting away, but was so paralyzed with fear that his body wouldn't respond to his command. It was then that his original was now directly before him, not even motioning for an action.

"Wh-what are y-y-you?" He trembled.

"I..." Drake said. "Am me. Nobody else."

In the blink of an eye, the sound of flesh against metal rang once more. Small droplets of black liquid slowly stained the snow. The small droplets soon became a slow stream of the stuff. The katana which the Fox had been using this whole battle now tasted the glory of battle. It was now sunk hilt deep into the mimics chest. The stain of fresh, warm blood clung to its metallic body.

The black life essence slowly drained from Mimi's body, the weapon only holding the influx of blood in him. He slowly reached towards the hand holding the weapon. He trembled in fear as he wished for a way to stop the event from unfolding. Just as his hand drew near, Drake swiftly ripped his sword from the mimics chest. Blood gushed outward on both sides, some of which staining Drake's cheek. Mimi fell limp, his limbs sprawling out over the snow as a black puddle formed around him.

"But... How?" He weakly said.

"I found a new purpose." The rough edge if Drake's voice now evident. "I will protect my friends, but not as a guardian. I will become a huntsman, and I refuse to let some fake me stand in my way of that dream."

"Then what... Will happen... Now? Will I just fade... Into darkness? Where will my heart go from here?"

"Perhaps to the same place as mine."

"Heh. I suppose... That's good enough then."

With that, the last of his strength vanished. His body slowly decayed into black wisps of air. In mere moments, the mimic was no more, nor was the black blood. Drake raised his sword and swung outward, flinging the blood from his blade. The blood quickly disappeared, as did his weapon. He closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath before exhaling and sighing. Luna approached him with a smile on her face.

"You've shed yourself of the Grimm energy. You are now Paladin Drake." She said happily.

"Thank you Luna. Now how do I leave this place?" Drake asked in his normal tone.

"That's simple. I thought you just have to-"

He suddenly realized what woulf be said next. Then, it what could be called no less than a miracle of some kind, all the snow in this strange place was blown away. Beneath the snow had rested a field of white flowers. One by one, starting ftom where Mimi had fallen, the flowers began to bloom into a blue color. Rapidly, the two were now standing in a field of blue flowers.

"Open the door." Luna and Drake said in sync.

* * *

The first day of classes at Beacon had finally concluded with minimal complications. It was nighttime over Vale and the Academy, and as such, many of the students were well on their way to bed. Some of them were already sleeping the day off, such as the majority of team RWBY. The door to their dorm room slowly creaked open silently. The W of the team peered inside and noticed that two of her teammates were asleep.

Yang was sprawled out on one side her bed, snoring the night away. Whereas Blake slept with one hand over her stomach and the other at her side. Weiss walked inside and over to her and Ruby's half of the room. Stepping onto her bed, she moved the currtain surrounding Ruby's aside and looked inside. She saw the young brunette quietly snoring, as well as an open textbook and empty cup of coffee with the kingdoms symbol.

 _"She was up studying? Wow, I guess she really must be devoted to being a good leader." Weiss thought._

She gently nudged Ruby's side and the girl awoke startled. She looked around hastily in a mini panic before her eyes fell upon the Heiress.

"Weiss, I can ex-" She tried to say, but Weiss pressed a finger against her lips.

"Sshh. How do you take your coffee?" Weiss whispered.

"Um, I d-"

"Just answer the question!"

"Uh, cream and five sugars!"

"Ugh, wait here."

Weiss then disappeared from Ruby's sight, leaving her confused. A moment later, she came back up with a fresh cup of coffee. Ruby hesitantly took the cup and looked at Weiss, who looked a little guilty.

"Ruby, I am sorry for how I reacted earlier with you." The Heiress apologized, blushing a little.

"Weiss, I'm just a little new to this whole position. I can understand if you'd rather be the leader." Ruby replied.

"Ruby Rose, I will be having none of that. You will be staying the team leader."

"Huh? But earlier you said that it might've been better if I wasn't leader."

"I know what I said, but someone helped me see that it's not all about being in charge. I want you to be the best leader you can, just know that I will the best teammate as I can be."

Weiss got off of her bed and went over to the door, but before leaving the room, she had one more thing to say.

"Oh, and Ruby? I've always wanted bunk beds as a kid." She said before disappearing out of the room.

* * *

 **There we go. Well, what did you all think of that? I tried to be a bit more descriptive in some parts, but I honestly suck at fight scenes. Now then, there are a heap of references here, see if you can spot them. And if you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review and tell me your thoughts. Constructive Criticism is appreciated, but no flaming. Anyways, next time, we do a little time skip forward, and get into the near end of the first arc. Hopefully some of your questions will be answered then, but more will be unveiled. Until next time everyone. Rin Yahto, signing off.**


	17. Chapter 17 Trailer: Melody

**This is just how I chose to introduce a character that I couldn't figure otherwise to fit into the plot. So being a Character Trailer, it occurs before this story, but also serves to build a little backstory. Hope you enjoy, and let's get a going.**

 _The world started off in pure silence. All was still, until in a single instant, sound was born._

In the Frostwind Forest of Atlas, much was a mystery there. Regardless of the temperament outside of it or whatever season of the year it was, the forest was always blanketed in white. Even the grass, though still thriving, was a bright shade of ivory. It was as though the entire place were covered in a permanent tint of white paint. That being said, it too had its own share of black inklings known as Grimm. They prowled through the woods, looking for the next target of their fury. It was a dangerous place, but it didn't stop the one person entering its foliage now.

This person was concealed by a pink coat, hiding both their body and their face from prying eyes. As they walked, the light growls of Grimm came from the surrounding air, but they didn't deter them. The person continued to walk, as though nothing were even there, taking in the sight of the pale white woodlands. Nothing would stand in their way, not even the horde of creatures running through this forest. The bright color of their coat served no function of stealth, so it was no surprise when she saw a small pack of Beowolves gather in front of her. Her footsteps drew to a halt and she stared into the piercing red eyes of the packs Alpha.

 **Song: Liar's Mask. Artist: Sora Amimaya. Start.**

She lifted the hood of her coat up and back a little, revealing only the pink shade of her eyes to the beast before her. It growled quietly before releasing a loud howl and charging the girl. It was a fast creature, faster than normal, but this wouldn't stop her. The beast was right in front of her, and as it swung its mighty claw, the girl took a leap back. She slid to a halt with her hand dug into the ground as she stared at the Alpha. It growled in annoyance and was about to rush her again, but this time the girl had block ready. When the creature had swung this time, it had been stopped by a mere Bow string, like one would use for an instrument.

"Vanish." The girl said softly.

The Alpha's eyes widened, and before it could react, the girl did a quick twirl and slash it from its shoulderand down to its waist, cleaving the beast in two. The seperate parts fell to the ground and quickly faded from existence. The rest of the pack looked astonished, but that didn't stop them from trying to take her down. The next one did actually land a hit, but all that was speared on its claws was the pink jacket and no girl. It looked around for her, and only found her by looking into the air at the seemingly floating girl, completely revealed.

This woman had beautiful back length, silky black hair bearing a large bright pink stripe through the left front half of her hair. Her skin looked as though it were cleansed in the purest stream, being a rather pale color, yet also free of blemish. Her ferocious pink eyes burned with an intensity strong enough to rival a living flame. She wore a blue snow patterned shirt with grey long sleeves, and a black knee length skirt with the symbol of a pink treble clef on the right hem. Besides that, she had on black stocking and black combat boots with pink swirls and laces. It was a bit hard to see, but she was also concealing a set of pink, pointy animal ears on her head. She fell to ground slowly and turned towards the crowd of Grimm, holding out the bow string at them threateningly.

"Requim of the Night, guide me forward." She said in a voice so melodic, it almost sounded too perfect.

The horde of black beasts attempted to swarm her all together, though the end result was only met with a silhouette. The girl was once again in the air, but this time, she would retaliate. She reached around her side and pulled forth a violin of some sort. She placed her right hand in the middle of the neck and lined her bow up with the base.

As she strung the tool across its instrument, a low rumbling noise was emitted, dragging on as bow ran across the strings. When suddenly, she ripped away from her violin and a wave of red energy was flung downward at the Grimm. They tried to scramble away, but several of them were hit and burnt to a crisp, the explosion blowing some away from the impact point. The woman landed into a crouching position, holding her bowstring facing toward her back and her violin towards her front. As she slowly rose to her feet, the five strings of her violin began to shift colors. From the steel grey came forth burning red, frozen blue, electric yellow, shadow purple, and stone brown. Looking as the scattered horde tried to reform, she grinned in amusement and anticipation.

"Fall to the muse of my Sonata Strings." She said softly.

This time, she zoomed forward, piercing the chest of the closest Beowolf. Rapidly ripping her biwstring from it, she quickly swung the tool across the blue string of her instrument. The bowstring was imbued with ice dust, shifting the common instrument item into an icy sword with a snowflake shaped handguard. The violin took on a blue hue and started to shift in shape, the neck splitting down the middle and the body's sides opening outward, until it was a hexagonal shield. Though unnoticeable but meaningful, blue swirls appeared around her neck, signifying the cold dust within her weapon and semblance.

She swung her ice sword swiftly, cleaving through Grimm left and right. One tried to strike when her back was turned towards it but she stopped it with a swift movement of her ice shield. In return for the attack, she turned around to it and released an ear piercing scream. This scream was envied with the same substance as her weapons, so the Grimm on the receiving end were frozen into statues. She sprinted through the row, swinging left and right, shattering the ice and removing more opponents. The icy cloak faded from her weapons, returning them to the instrument it previously was. She leaped away from several attempts until one caught her side and batted her off towards her right.

She got up but remained on one knee, breathing in deeply despite the battle in progress. She looked back up, this time with no arrogant smirk or even a cocky smile. This, was pure undivided rage concealed with a stoic expression. Taking stand, her aura radiated around her like a pink cloak of emotion. And right now, that emotion was beyond pissed. Pressing the violin against her neck, she dragged the bow across it and started to play a song across the strings. As she played, the soft glow of her aura began to receed out of sight slowly.

The beowolfs seemed to be entranced by the soft tunes, even going as far as not moving as she played. The music played on for only a few moments, but it felt like hours passed as the girl played the instrumental weapon. Then... Silence fell around them. The sweet melodies of the violinist had ceased.

"Song of Calming. Go in peace." She said, opening her eyes once again and looking at the stunned horde.

With the soothing sounds no longer playing, their docile state shifted back to rage. One by one, they roared out in rage, ready to strike down any who was unlucky to cross their path. Unfortunately for them though, they would be at the receiving end of a demise. The girl pressed one of her fingers upon the yellow string and strummed it with her bow, activating another effect. This time, the bow was filled with electric energy and seperated until it was now twin daggers. The imprint on her throat became two lightning bolts wrapping around her neck.

She returned her violin to its back holster and took a skight crouch position with her blades pointed to her back. She ran towards the Grimm and leaped up high in the air before tossing one of the blades. It landed square in the center of an unsuspecting Beo's skull, the red draining from its eyes as it died. She quickly grabbed the dagger as she fell and spun quickly to impale another through the neck. Quickly retracting it, she released another loud shriek, this one filled with electricity. A portion of the small horde was paralyzed now, so she had to act fast while the dust wore off.

"Time for the end. Closing crescendo." She said.

With the horde of Grimm reduced to a mere dozen, she could finish them as they were. She raised the Viola to her neck, the colored string back to their metallic silver, she slowly dragged her bow across the five strings. While doing so, she overlapped her pink aura around herself and the instrument. As she played, the sound slowly became louder and louder, as though her aura were acting as an amp of some sort. The sound expanded outward to the grimm horde, which was trying to end her as she played. Three of them jumped at her with claws raised to strike her down.

"Resonance Pulse!" The girl yelled out.

Suddenly, a huge dome of energy exploded out from her, blowing the remainder of Grimm away. They were sent into the trees, some crashing into them, and others sent in between. The swarm was no more, and all that remained in the small clearing was the girl. She returned her instrumental weapon to her back and heard the song Strength start playing. Grabbing out her scroll, she was getting a call, so she answered it.

"Hello?" She said.

"Melody Sonata. This is Professor Ozpin. I would like to inform you that you have been accepted to my academy. You will be assigned to a three person team upon arrival." The man on the phone said.

"Alright. Thank you for informing me sir. I'll be there on the first airship, but what about my initiation?"

"Initiation has ended, but I have no doubt you have proven yourself capable of becoming a huntress."

"Okay then. See you soon sir."

Melody hung up and leaped up happily. She was overjoyed that she could attend Beacon, and was quite eager to get there. Running back to the main kingdom of Atlas, she headed for the transcontinental airships, ready to begin the new chapter of her life.

 **I hope you all enjoyed it. That was the first tone I've tried writing a trailer in script form. Now, I know there are still questions, but I will answer them here.**

 **Name: Melody Sonata**

 **Age: 17**

 **Color: Pink**

 **Semblance: Resonance. By overlaying her aura, she can project the power of her weapon. Her semblance can also increase the power of her teammates, but only for a short time. It's like Soul Eater's Resonance Link.**

 **Likes: Music, Chocolate, Her Violin, and Faunus.**

 **Dislikes: Rap music, sushi (not including tuna), and racists.**

 **Personality: Playful, but serious when it comes to battles.**

 **I will explain more when she is actually debuted in the story. Next time, the REAL start of the arc finale. Rin Yahto, signing off.**


End file.
